Latest / THE SECRET LAW OF ATTRACTION: Manifest Wealth, Success & Abundance / WILL POWER: Hidden Force Behind the Law of Attraction & Success – William Walker Atkinson

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WILL POWER: Hidden Force Behind the Law of Attraction & Success – William Walker Atkinson · THE SECRET LAW OF ATTRACTION: Manifest Wealth, Success & Abundance

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Speaker 1: Will Power Your Dynamic Forces by William Walker Atkinson, nineteen
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twenty two. Will power. Of all the varied manifestations of
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power proceeding from that power which the best human thought
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perceives to be the source and origin of all the
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power in the universe, that manifestation, which we know as
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will power, seems to be the most fundamental, the most elemental,
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the most universal. It is seen by philosophers to constitute
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the very colonel or heart of all phases and forms
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of personal power. Many, indeed, have held that in will
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power abides the ultimate principle of the universe, and that
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all forms of power, force, and energy, at the last
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must be thought of in terms of will power. Whatever
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may be the ultimate facts of the universe, there can
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be no dispute concerning the dominating position occupied by will
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power in the life and being of the individual man.
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When you undertake the task of self analysis, you will
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find your will at the very center of your being,
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so close to the I am, I or ego, that
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it is most difficult to disentangle it from your real self.
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Your sensations, your passions, your emotions, your tastes, and your
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talents are found to be under the control of your
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trained will. You may set them aside from yourself and
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analyze them, correct them, improve them. But the will lies
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closer to yourself. You cannot set it apart from yourself,
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as you can the other mental states. It is neither
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sensation nor emotion, though it may dominate both. It is
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always subjective and active, abiding and operating from the very
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citadel of your being. Emotion and thought may lie deep
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in your being, but will lie still deeper. Emotion and
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thought are objective to the will, and may be influenced
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and directed by it. You are conscious of your sensations
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and of your emotions as merely incidental to your existence.
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But you are directly conscious of your will, just as
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you are conscious of your self existence. You can modify
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your other mental states, but you cannot modify your will
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in the same way. The will is your sole instrument
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of modification, and it cannot be turned back on itself.
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The office of the will is that of action, and
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in its activities it directs and orders, commands, and regulates
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the other mental states. In fact, the will acts chiefly
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through and by means of its control and direction of
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your other mental states. Will power may be developed and
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trained of course, otherwise this book would have no purpose
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and intent. But it is not to be developed and
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trained as are the other mental states or powers, for
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these are modified by the action of the will upon them.
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Unlike theirs, its development consists rather of the unfolding into
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fuller expression of a fundamental power which already exists, the
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transformation of latent and static will into active and dynamic will.
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This form of development is defined as the act of
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freeing from that which envelopes. Its training, likewise, is different.
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Instead of its being trained by a higher mental faculty
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or power, the will itself proceeds to improve, deepen, widen,
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and strengthen the channels through which its currents flow. We
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therefore employ the term the development and training of the
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will only in this sense. Will culture really is the
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process of providing the will with the appropriate mental instruments
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for its fuller expression and manifestation, and of encouraging it
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to employ them. The will always is there, abiding in
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full power. It is your part to supply it with
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the proper incentives to action, and to furnish it with
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the channels of habit and use through which it may
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flow freely. Strange to say you must employ the powers
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of will itself in order to provide these requisites for
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its own fuller expression. At the last, the will itself
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must will to provide itself with the instruments of willing.
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The will must well to will and to will into
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being the instruments of its future willing. But the will
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always is content to do these things when properly aroused.
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We need not labor to convince you that it is
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desirable for you to possess developed and trained will power.
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You know from your own experience and observation that to
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have a strong will is to be a strong individual,
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one who is regarded with respect. You know also that
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to have a weak will is to be a weak
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individual one to be pitted, if not indeed, to be scorned.
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You may, however, have fallen into the error of supposing
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that the possessors of the strong will are individuals especially
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favored and blessed by nature, or by the powers above nature.
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You may be among those who regard strength of will
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as akin to height, complexion, or similar personal characteristics, which
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have been bestowed upon certain individuals without any effort on
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their part, and to which no other individuals may hope
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to attain if they have not been born with them.
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If you have fallen into this error, now is the
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time for you to rid yourself of it. Thoughtful psychologists
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take an entirely different view the case. While recognizing the
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fact that to some individuals the manifestation of will power
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is easier at the beginning, that it comes more natural
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to some than to others, those who have made a
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careful study of this subject know that it is equally
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true that each and every individual has within himself a
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bountiful supply of latent will power, which he may develop
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and train to a marvelous degree if he will employ
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the proper scientific methods. In fact, experience has proved that
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many of the individuals who have thus acquired a high
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degree of will power are able to manifest it more
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consistently and more habitually than many of those who were
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born to it but who have not learned how to
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apply it effectively. It is true that in order to
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develop and train your will power, you will need to
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arouse and apply a certain degree of will itself. You
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will also find that your will power, once set into
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operation in this direction, will rise to the occasion, and
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that your supply of such power will prove to be
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equal to your demands upon it. One may start with
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even a far less degree of will power than that
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possessed by the average man, and then proceed step by
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step in an ever increasing ratio of attainment and development
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until the heights are reached. Accompanying the very application of
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will power to the task of developing itself by special training,
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there is a correlated arousing of its latent energies. The
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employment of will power in this effort tends to strengthen
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and energize its power of manifestation in other directions. We
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ask you to take careful notice of this peculiar situation.
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Will power may be developed and trained only by will power.
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Will power is required to develop and to train will power.
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Will Power is self developed and self trained. Will power
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applies its energies to itself, and by means of this
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it tends to perfect and improve itself. The other mental
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faculties and powers find it necessary to call on will
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power to perfect them. But will power requires no outside
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aid and can obtain none. It must, ever, fall back
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upon its own inherent powers when it wished to develop
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or improve itself. If you had no will power, you
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would never be able to develop any since you would
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have nothing else with which to develop it. But fortunately
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you have will to start with, though it may exist
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merely in a latent or dormant state. Will power is
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your heritage, and it will be at your service if
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you demand it. When you employ will power to develop
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will power, you not only build a mental path over
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which the will thereafter travels, but you also actually strengthen
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and develop the will itself by the very task of
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building such paths or roads. In creating the tools for
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the use of the will, you also render the will
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itself stronger, better, and more efficient. Here we have a
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striking illustration of the old Biblical statement that to him
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who hath shall be given, the more persistent and the
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longer continue the efforts of your will to develop and
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train your will power, the stronger will your will become
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by reason of the energies expended in the effort. By
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employing will power in the task, you will actually gain
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will power as the result. This is a very significant
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fact and one which you should always bear in mind.
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The more of will you give, the more of will
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you have. This is the way of the will. Here,
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at the very beginning, you should realize that there is
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no royal road to the development and training of will power.
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There is no magic charm which, when one will transform
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the weak willed individual into the strong willed one. There
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is no miraculous drug concealed in an attractive capsule which
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needs but to be swallowed by one in order to
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render himself a veritable samson of will power or a
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Napoleon of will. There is no magician's wand which, when
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waved over the individual, may transform him, in the twinkling
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of an eye into the man with the will of
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the titan. Those who have dreamed of such a miraculous
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and magic process of transformation may as well realize these
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facts right here at the beginning. But equally true is
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it that the wonderful results which many have dreamed of
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securing by some kind of miraculous or magic power are
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possible of attainment by you, provided that you will apply
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yourself to the task in the right spirit and with
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a firm determination to succeed. You may obtain the highest
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success in this direction, but you must work for it,
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just as you must work for anything else worth while
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in life. Just as you may develop yourself physically by
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exercise along the lines of scientific physical culture, so you
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may develop your will power by scientific methods and exercises. This, indeed,
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is the only way will power may be obtained in
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no other way. But on the other hand, the reward
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will far more than repay you for your efforts. Moreover,
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once you have taken the first few steps, you will
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find that your interest will increase, and you will be
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encouraged by the many little indications of the actual development
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of will power, which will make themselves manifest even from
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the start. We would here call your attention to another
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important and interesting fact concerning the task of the development
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and training of will power. While the discipline and exercise
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of the task entails some degree of self sacrifice in
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the direction of setting aside certain minor courses of action,
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which may have a strong basis of habit, you will
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find yourself more than compensated for the loss by the
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pleasure which comes from the consciousness of the unfoldment of
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new powers within yourself. The new interests will soon supplant
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the old ones, and the joy of possession will overbalance
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the price of denial. In this connection, we would impress
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upon you the fact that no intelligent application of will
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power is a loss. Such is always a gain In
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every intelligent exercise or application of the will. You are
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making an investment in will power. You are making a
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deposit in a bank of will, and this bank pays
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at attractive rate of interest. We know of no better
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investment for you. Your expenditures are transformed into savings, stored
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up as a reserve fund, drawing good interest. This surely
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should prove an attractive proposition for you. We take it
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that you have already developed at least the average degree
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of will power. The fact that you have undertaken the
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study of this book is evidence that you have developed
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at least some degree of the will to will, that
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you know what a valuable thing will power is, and
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that you desire to possess and manifest still more of it.
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We are proceeding upon such assumption, even when we may
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seem to be giving instruction designed for those of a
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lesser degree of attainment. Do not make the mistake of
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passing over any of the simple and elementary phases of
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our instruction merely because you may think that you have
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passed beyond that stage and have outgrown the need for
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such instruction. The rule is this, that which will make
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a weak will strong will make a strong will stronger.
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Even the most elementary method or exercise may be employed
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profitably by those of giant will power, particularly where the
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strength has not been effectively trained or efficiently directed. If
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you are seeking, by the methods of this book to
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direct the efforts of some weaker willed friend or relation,
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we would say to you that you are on the
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right road. There are no exceptions to the rule that
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will power is capable of development and training in the
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case of any individual. While there is will, there is hope.
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There is latent will in everyone, even in the weakest
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willed person. Moreover, those who are suffering from a diseased
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will or from a discouraged will may feel certain that
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the right effort will raise them from their unfortunate condition.
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There lives no man to whom the benefit of will
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culture is denied. There is no man so weak, so old,
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so burdened with a long series of will failures, to
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whom it may not be said truthfully that the gate
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of hope is still open to you. Enter into your
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own kingdom of awakened will. Now right here, at the
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beginning of our instruction, we shall ask you to recall
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an experience of your youth. If you have ever lived
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in the country, you will understand the principle involved. Therein
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we allude to the process whereby the good old pump
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on the farm was set a going by means of
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the process of priming it, i e. Of pouring into
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the pump a pailful of water in order to set
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into operation the internal mechanism whereby the working of the
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pump handle brought up to the spout of free and
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full supply of water. Now, then here, at this point
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we are going to ask you to prime your good
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pump of will power in order to set it a going.
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Later you will find some good suggestions concerning that which
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you should pour into the pump of will power in
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the process of priming it. Pour these in, and before
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long you will feel the thrill of the mounting will
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power the will to will. Priming the pump of will power,
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one begin by realizing just how much you really want
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to attain strong and effective will power. Let the feelings
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of your subconscious mentality rise to the surface of your consciousness.
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You will discover that you have some very strong feelings
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on the subject. Give to these feelings the full possession
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of your mind. Let the desire for will power permeate
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your whole being. Do not rest satisfied until you want
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will power, as the drowning man wants air, as the
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starving man wants food, as the thirsting man wants water,
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as the wild creature wants its mate, as the mother
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creature wants its young. Before you can get anything, you
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must want it hard enough. Two. Picture yourself in imagination
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as already possessed of strong will power. See yourself in
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mental pictures as manifesting the actions of the man of
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giant will. See yourself as the man of invincible determination
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of the purpose once fixed and then victory or death.
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See yourself as the man possessed of that strong and
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indefatigable will which treads down difficulties and dangers as the
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boy treads down the frozen snow in winter. See yourself
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as possessed of that settled purpose which demands fulfillment and
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which will not be denied. See yourself as possessed of
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that passionate and unwearied will which performs that which seems
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impossible to the eyes of the cold and feeble. See
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yourself as the man who will not yield to the
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casualties of life, but who forces them to yield to him,
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and who compel circumstances to serve his purposes and designs,
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though they had at first seemed determined to frustrate them.
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See yourself as possessed of that spirit of will, that firm,
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decisive spirit which clears a space around you and leaves
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you room and freedom for action. Memorize and ponder over
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the following lines from Ellowheeler Wilcox. There is no chance,
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no destiny, no fate can circumvent or hinder or control
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the firm resolve of a determined soul gifts count For
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nothing will alone as great all things give way before
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it soon or late? What obstacles can stay the mighty
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force of the sea seeking river in its course, or
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cause the ascending orb of day to wait? Each well
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born soul must win what it deserves. Let the fools
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prate of luck. The fortunate is he whose earnest purpose
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never swerves, whose slightest action or inaction serves the one
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great aim. Why even death itself stand still and waits
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an hour sometimes for such a will Three. Next, carefully
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consider the question of whether or not you are ready
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and willing to pay the price of effort, exercise, and
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training necessary for the attainment of strong will power. Proceed
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honestly in this matter, do not try to deceive yourself.
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Weigh carefully the advantages which will accrue to you as
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the result of your attainment of the qualities and powers
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seen in the mental picture which you have just considered.
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Against these, balance the degree of work, time, attention, and
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the general mental discipline which you must perform as the
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price of your attainment. Balance the goods against the price,
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and decide whether or not you will get full value
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for your money. You must settle this question once and
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for all right here at the beginning. You must not
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carry it over into the later stages of this instruction,
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there to plague and torment you. If you find that
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you are not willing to pay the price, all well
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and good. In such case, close this book and dismiss
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the subject from your mind. Leave it for some more
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courageous and determined soul. But if, as we anticipate, you
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decide that the game is worth the candle and the
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goods are cheap at the price, then close the contract
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with yourself and proceed as follows. Having fully made up
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your mind, you should proceed to enter into the task
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of will development with full determination and resolute purpose. You
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must manifest not a mere passive or lukewarm resolve, but
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a real, red blooded, virile resolution which your manhood compels
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you to fulfill. You must will to will in this matter.
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You must throw the whole force of your being into
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the task of this purposeful determination. You must be prepared
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to act now in the manner in which you pictured
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yourself acting a few moments ago. You must burn your
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bridges behind you, and must enter upon the from which
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there is no retreat. Take as your battle cry I can,
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I will, I dare I do? Carry its inspiration with
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you in your hours of struggle, effort, and battle against
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the forces of lethargy, apathy, inertia, and the tendency to
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sidetrack the decision. Sound this note insistently and persistently, in
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your hours of discouragement, in which the tempter whispers in
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your ear what's the use? Set the vibrations of the
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battle cry into motion, And finally, in your hours of triumph,
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in which you enjoy your achievement with that keen pleasure
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that comes only to him who has overcome obstacles by
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sheer persistence, determination, and will. Let this be your vibrant
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note of victory. Sound this note over and over again
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until its vibrations energize every atom and cell of your being.
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Let its rhythm awaken the thrill of will power within you,
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until the I can, I will, I dare I do
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sounds from the very center of your being. Sound it
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over and over again until you are fully conscious that
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its vibrations have begun, and that the whole mighty structure
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of your being is quivering and thrilling, throbbing and beating
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with the rhythmic vibration of the energy of your persistent determination,
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the spirit of your awakened will to will. This, then,
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is the water of suggestive idea and mental imagery, of
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definite course and determined purpose, which you are pouring into
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your pump of will, sow as to prime it and
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to set it a going, And set it a going,
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its surely will will power your dynamic forces. By William
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Walker Atkinson, nineteen twenty two. The nature of will. Psychology
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finds itself confronted by a paradox when it undertakes the
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consideration of the will. While it is able to indicate
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clearly the several stages of the activity of will, and
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also to point out positively the methods whereby the will
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may be developed and trained. Yet when it seeks to
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indicate the essential nature of will, it finds itself baffled
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at every turn, and in the end is compelled to
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content itself with explaining the will by a recital of
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its activities. The will is elusive. When we think that
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we have pinned it down for an examination of its
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essential nature, we find that we have merely laid hold
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of one of its manifold phases of activity. The will
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in itself remains free from our confining instruments, defying us
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to fasten it down even by a satisfactory definition. Compared
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with the knowledge we have of the fundamental nature of
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the emotions, the reason, the memory, and the imagination, our
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knowledge of the essential nature of will is very unsatisfactory.
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Yet at the same time we know that we have
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a will, and that we will, and moreover, we know
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how to train our will, and how to develop and
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unfold its power. We have but to attempt to define
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the will, even with the aid of the best dictionaries,
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in order to realize how far beyond all possible definitions
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of it is our intuitive and direct knowledge of its presence,
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its powers, its activities. Turning to the dictionaries, we find
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that will is defined as the power of the mind
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which enables a person to choose between two courses of action,
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also the actual exercise of the power of choice, and
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in a secondary meaning strong wish or inclination, desire or
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conative feeling. The dictionaries further inform us that the power
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of choice is the distinctive attribute of will, and that
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the exercise of that power is more properly called volition. Now,
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this definition is not in accord with the fuller conception
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of the term will, which most of us entertain. Moreover,
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it is not in full accord with the teaching of
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the best modern psychology. Most of us, when we employ
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the term will, have in mind the exercise of the strong, purposeful,
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determined power of the ego or I am I. We
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know that within ourselves is a strong, dynamic force which,
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when applied with a set and determined purpose, is capable
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of acting with tremendous force, overcoming obstacles, breaking barriers, and
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sweeping away opposition. Moreover, the best modern psychology informs us
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that always is concerned with action, and that without action
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there is no completed process of will. In the present book,
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we shall consider will as being essentially concerned with action,
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and as being most characteristically manifested in the mental states
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which we know as purpose and determination, respectively. All the
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other phases of what we shall regard as being merely
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incidental to this phase of purposeful determination, and as contributing
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to such phase. By following this course, we believe we
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shall be emphasizing the practical aspect of will power, and
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that we shall be keeping the inquiry and instruction in
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the channel promising the greatest benefit to you in the
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accomplishment of your ends and aims, your ambitions, and your hopes.
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The term purpose seems to express satisfactorily this understanding and
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conception of will. It is defined as the view, aim, design, intention, determination, resolution,
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or will to accomplish or reach some particular object. Another
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definition is that which a person sets before himself as
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the object to be gained or accomplished. The end or
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aim which one has in view in any plan, measure,
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or exertion that which one intends to do, Hence his intention, design, plan,
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or project. Employed as a verb, the term purpose is
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defined as to intend to design, to determine or resolve
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on anything as an end or object to be gained
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or accomplished. The term determination in this particular meaning is
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defined as strength or firmness of mind, firm resolve or resolution,
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and absolute direction to a certain end. In the mental
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state of purposeful determination and in its resultant action, we
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have at least a working principle of the phaseable power
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with which we are vitally concerned. In this book, we
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shall consider and apply the principles of the other phases
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of will toward the end of the accomplishment of this
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purposeful determination phase of will power. We ask you to
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fix this principle in your mind, and to keep it
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in view throughout the entire course of this inquiry and instruction.
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Memorize the term purposeful determination. We have thought it well
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to present to you at this point a brief and
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general synopsis of the five stages of will, the stages
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which each and every process of will manifests as it
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unfolds into active expression. The more clearly you understand the
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processes of will, the more clearly will you be able
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to will. These five stages of will are as follows,
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One feeling and emotion, two, desire and impulse, Three deliberation
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and consideration for determination and decision, five voluntary expression and action.
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Here follows a brief description of each of the above
24:53
stated five stages of will. One the stage of feeling
24:58
and emotion. Feeling is defined as the simple, agreeable or
25:02
disagreeable side of any mental state. Emotion is the complex
25:07
of feeling. Feeling is the indispensable element of all emotional states.
25:13
While feeling in itself is not to be regarded as
25:16
a phase or aspect of perfected will, yet it is
25:19
true that feeling is one of the raw materials of
25:22
will action, or stating it in another form, all will
25:26
activities have their roots embedded in the soil of feeling
25:29
in emotion. This fact is not generally recognized by the
25:33
average person, but it is one which everyone is forced
25:36
to admit when he analyzes and examines his will processes.
25:40
In the category of feeling in emotion, we of course
25:44
include the moral and religious feelings and emotions, as well
25:47
as each and every other form or forms of feeling
25:50
in emotion. It has well been said that the phenomena
25:54
of the world have value to us only in so
25:56
far as they affect our feelings. The importance of this
26:00
is recognized when we realize that all will activities proceed
26:04
from desire, and that desire is but the active aspect
26:07
or phase of feeling. We will to do only what
26:10
we desire to do, and we desire to do only
26:13
what our feelings report as comfortable, satisfying, and contenting, rather
26:17
than the opposite. If an object or subject fails to
26:21
arouse interest and agreeable feelings, if it thus possesses no
26:25
interest or attraction for us, then we experience no desire
26:29
or impulse to have or to do anything concerning the
26:31
attainment of that object or subject. If we have no
26:35
aversion or repulsion also phases a feeling concerning a subject
26:39
or object, then we experience no desire or impulse to
26:43
avoid or escape, or to get rid of or away
26:45
from that subject or object. Without agreeable or disagreeable feelings
26:51
or interest concerning any particular thing, we have no desire
26:54
or impulse to act in any way concerning or relating
26:57
to that thing. It has no will value for us.
27:00
In such case, if feeling and emotion were eliminated from
27:04
our mental being, then all things alike would prove absolutely
27:08
uninteresting to us. In such case, in a familiar phrase,
27:12
all things would look alike to us, We should not
27:15
want any of them, nor should we want to take
27:18
any action toward attaining any of them. Likewise, we should
27:22
not dislike any of them, nor should we want to
27:24
take any action in the direction of escaping, avoiding, or
27:27
getting away from anything whatsoever. In such case, our will
27:32
would be so absolutely passive and inert that it might
27:35
as well be non existent. Two. The stage of desire
27:39
and impulse. The essential active element of desire and impulse
27:44
is that which in psychology is called conation, which is
27:47
defined as that element of consciousness which shows itself in tendencies, impulses, desires,
27:53
and acts of volition. It is essentially a mental state
27:56
of unrest, and it manifests whenever a mental state tends,
27:59
by its own nature, to develop into something else. Desire
28:03
is defined as a conative tendency toward that which promises
28:07
emotional satisfaction and content, or else away from that which
28:10
threatens emotional dissatisfaction and discontent. Desire has for its object
28:15
the satisfaction of some form of pleasurable feeling, or the
28:19
escape from some form of painful feeling. This pleasurable feeling
28:24
or painful feeling, however, may be concerned with either a
28:28
immediate or b remote events. Likewise, such events may concern
28:33
either C the individual himself, or D others in whom
28:38
he is interested and to whom he is related by
28:40
the bonds of affection or sympathy. No matter how complex
28:44
may be the feelings arousing the conative impulses of desire,
28:48
their ultimate analysis will show that the basic feeling is
28:51
that inspired by some promised pleasure or some threatened pain,
28:54
immediate or remote, direct or indirect, deemed likely to be
28:58
experienced by the indivation. Desire is the connecting link between
29:03
feeling and will. On one side, it is blended with feeling.
29:07
On the other side, it blends into will. It depends
29:10
for existence upon feeling. It depends for expression upon will.
29:15
Desire always manifests by a more or less definite want
29:19
or want to, This accompanied by a peculiar feeling of
29:22
tension or strain known as impulse. The stronger the desire,
29:27
the stronger is this tension or strain of impulse. This
29:30
conative urge toward action. Feeling an emotion inspiring desire may
29:35
manifest on the open plane of consciousness, or again they
29:39
may abide more or less concealed in the recesses of
29:41
the subconscious mentality, or again they may exist in the
29:45
guise of habit. But wherever they exist or abide, or
29:49
in whatever form or guise they present themselves, they are
29:53
always feeling an emotion in the stage of transformation into
29:56
the conative energy of desire, and striving to escape and
29:59
find release involuntary action of the will. Three, the stage
30:04
of deliberation and consideration. Deliberation is the act of deliberating
30:10
or weighing in the mind. In this stage, you find
30:13
yourself confronted with several alternative courses of action, or else
30:17
with the question to do or not to do some
30:20
particular thing. In each and every instance of deliberation, however,
30:25
you will find that each alternative course of action will
30:27
involve certain phases of desire, i e. Certain tendencies to
30:31
attain or to secure something promising emotional satisfaction content, or
30:36
else to escape from and to avoid something threatening emotional
30:39
dissatisfaction discontent. These alternative appeals of desire two will present
30:44
conflicting emotional attractions or repulsions or both. These you weigh
30:49
one against the other one set against the other, until
30:52
finally you strike the balance of decision. In such cases,
30:56
you will find yourself, figuratively speaking, tasting these several dishes
31:00
of emotional food, noting the agreeable or disagreeable qualities of each,
31:05
and endeavoring to decide which promises the greater degree of
31:08
emotional satisfaction or dissatisfaction, content or discontent. The fact that
31:14
in this process of deliberation you call upon reason, memory, imagination,
31:18
and other mental powers or faculties to assist you in
31:21
your decision must not cause you to overlook the all
31:24
important part played in it by desire. You will find
31:28
that in the end you have decided upon the course
31:30
of action which promises you the greatest emotional content and
31:33
comfort and the least emotional dissatisfaction and discomfort. You have
31:38
employed reason and its assistant faculties and powers merely to
31:42
enable you to discover which of the alternatives possesses the
31:45
greater promise of ultimate and permanent emotional value. Along the
31:48
lines of content and comfort, your reasons governing your decision
31:53
concerning will action are always found to be based upon
31:56
motives of this particular kind. Four. The state of determination
32:01
and decision. Determination in this usage is the act of
32:05
terminating or bringing to an end the state of decision.
32:10
In this stage, the processes of deliberation or the weighing
32:13
of motives is brought to an end, and the mind
32:16
is made up. The old school of psychology held this
32:20
to be the last and final act of will, its
32:23
characteristic act. This, indeed, would be true if we could
32:27
accept the old definition of will as the faculty which
32:30
chooses or makes choice. But under the later conceptions and
32:34
definitions of will, in which it is perceived that will
32:36
is essentially concerned with action, we see the necessity of
32:40
pursuing our inquiry further. There is a marked difference between
32:44
the usage of merely making up your mind or of
32:47
even deciding to act, and that of the actual performance
32:50
of the associated action which you have decided to perform.
32:54
Many a time you have made up your mind and
32:56
have decided to act, only later to fail to act
33:00
or to carry out your decision. This distinction is illustrated
33:04
by William James's familiar story of the man making up
33:07
his mind and deciding to get out of bed on
33:10
a cold morning when the alarm clock sounded frequently. He
33:13
finds it necessary to make up his mind and to
33:16
decide several times before he finally expresses the thought in action.
33:21
In this inquiry and instruction, accordingly we have taken cognizance
33:25
of that further phase of determination, which is defined as
33:28
strength and firmness of mind, firm resolve or resolution, absolute
33:32
direction to a certain end. In this phase of the
33:36
stage of determination, you reach the process of purposeful determination.
33:40
Here the stage of determination blends into that of voluntary
33:43
action and becomes one with it. Five, the stage of
33:47
voluntary expression and action. Voluntary action is defined as the
33:52
process of acting and moving by will power. This is
33:56
the final stage of the will. It is will in
33:59
full flower. It is towards this end that will has
34:02
been struggling and striving, which effort has given activity to
34:06
all of the processes of the preceding stages or phases
34:09
of will. Voluntary action is the very spirit of will.
34:14
Without the manifestation of voluntary action, the will process is
34:17
practically incomplete. Determination is the decision to will, or, in
34:23
its more active phases, the resolve or resolution, the purposeful
34:27
determination to will, or, in still more intense manifestation, even
34:31
the will to will itself. But in voluntary action. We
34:35
have what has been called will, willing itself in action
34:38
and manifesting itself as will. Here the trigger of the
34:42
will has been pulled by the I am I. Here
34:45
the spring of action has been released. Here, the will
34:48
drives itself into action, sets itself to work. Here, the
34:53
will not only wills to will, but also actually wills
34:57
itself into full manifestation and expression. Here we have the
35:01
real will, will, expressing its purpose, its determination, and its
35:05
full power and inner nature. This is the phase of
35:08
will that so eludes our definition in formal terms, because
35:12
we have no terms other than those of will itself
35:15
with which to define it. In the previous phases or stages,
35:19
we could employ the terms of feeling, desire, or reason
35:22
in striving to indicate the nature of the processes of
35:25
such stages or phases. But here we have nothing else
35:28
with which to compare will, for there is nothing else
35:31
of its kind. Will is unique, sway, generous, alone in
35:35
its class, in a class by itself. You cannot hope
35:39
to apprehend intellectually its essential nature, but you can and
35:43
do know it and experience it within yourself, as the
35:46
closest instrument implement in power of the I, am, I,
35:49
the ego, the self. Expression and inhibition. There are two
35:55
general phases or forms of voluntary action with which you
35:58
must become acquainted. The first phase or form is that
36:02
of expression. Here, the will action proceeds in the direction
36:05
of the actual expression and manifestation of the mental states
36:08
animating and inspiring the will. The second phase or form
36:12
is that of inhibition. Here, the will action proceeds in
36:15
the direction of checking, restraining, keeping back, or inhibiting the
36:19
expression of certain insistent but objectionable mental states seeking to
36:23
inspire the will to action. Here the effort is exerted
36:26
in response to the stronger opposing mental states which have
36:29
won in the will conflict during the stage of deliberation decision.
36:33
In inhibition, the will is employed for the purpose of binding,
36:37
locking up, and restraining the activity of the defeated set
36:40
of desires which repeatedly present themselves in an attempt to
36:43
reverse the former decision of the will. Many regard the
36:47
phase of expression as the characteristic activity of voluntary action,
36:51
and from one point of view this is correct. But
36:54
you should never lose sight of the fact that the
36:56
man who can and will manifest the phase of inhibition
37:00
when necessity arises and wisdom dictates such course is none
37:04
the less the man of giant will power. In fact,
37:07
the man of the strong will, usually accomplishes his great
37:10
results of expression only after he has manifested inhibition in
37:14
the direction of refraining from acting upon many very strong
37:17
impulses and desires which are opposed to his top values
37:20
of will. In many cases, indeed, one employs an inhibition
37:25
a degree of will power not less than that required
37:28
in the processes of expression. It often is quite as
37:32
hard not to do a thing as it is to
37:34
do a thing. The man of purposeful determination and will
37:38
power achieves his distinction very largely by reason of the
37:41
fact that he is able to hold before his mental
37:43
vision one ideal or set of ideals, one set of
37:47
prime motives, one set purpose, one top value, and then
37:51
resolutely and determinately, even ruthlessly, to thrust from his region
37:55
of will all conflicting and opposing tendencies and desires, inclinations
38:00
and impulses, burges and cravings. In order to manifest into
38:04
action the one great ideal, such a man finds it
38:07
necessary to inhibit and to restrain a host of lesser ideas, desires, inclinations, burges,
38:13
and cravings. In order to accomplish some one great thing,
38:17
you will often find it necessary not to do many
38:20
other things which conflict with and oppose that one great thing.
38:24
In the exercises which form a part of this instruction,
38:27
you will be asked to manifest this phase of inhibition
38:30
by will power. By doing so, you will make progress
38:34
in the attainment of the giant will. This not necessarily
38:38
because of any special demerit or evil in the inhibited
38:41
desires and actions, but simply and solely because by reason
38:44
of such deliberate and determined action of the will, you
38:47
may develop will muscle, and may learn how to hold
38:49
fast the fiery steeds of desire which are pulling your
38:52
chariot of will. The steeds of desire serve well their
38:56
rightful purposes. When they are held well in hand, but unrestrained,
39:00
they frequently run away and end by overturning the chariot
39:04
and perhaps destroying the driver. Their training consists of alternative
39:08
stimulation and inhibition, deliberately and determinately devised and executed. The
39:14
purpose of the training is that, through actual practice and exercise,
39:18
the fiber of your will shall be made strong and firm, tough,
39:21
and tenacious. By training your desire nature to submit to
39:25
the control of the will intelligently applied, and by training
39:28
your will to control intelligently your desire nature, you not
39:32
only develop the art of efficient voluntary action, but also
39:35
train the desire nature to exert to the full its
39:37
wonderful powers, or else to withhold its forces when the
39:40
object of the purposeful determination is best served by such restraint.
39:45
Expression and inhibition are the two great levers of your
39:48
machinery of will. Acquire the art of employing each efficiently
39:53
and effectively, under the guidance and direction of your reason,
39:56
and in the service of your prime motives, your top values,
39:59
your great ideals will power your dynamic forces. By William
40:05
Walker Atkinson, nineteen twenty two. Conative will. In your task
40:11
of developing and training your will power, you must carefully
40:14
acquaint yourself with each and every one of the several
40:16
stages or phases of will, to the end that you
40:19
may master each particular phase in turn. In order to
40:23
acquire complete control over your processes of willing, you must
40:27
master each of the phases of the general activity involved
40:30
in them. You must attack the subject in detail, conquering
40:34
each of the phases or divisions. In turn. When you
40:37
have made this conquest of the several divisions or phases,
40:41
you will find that you have made a conquest of
40:43
the whole. If you have failed, heretofore to attain the
40:46
conquest of will power, you will probably find that your
40:49
failure has resulted from the fact that you have made
40:51
the mistake of attempting a frontal attack upon the opposing army,
40:55
directing your attack upon its strongest point, where it is
40:58
able to bring to bear upon you the maxim of
41:00
its defensive strength. Such attempts usually result in defeat. The
41:05
true general attacks the flanks of the enemy, cutting off
41:08
his basis of supply, and then defeating him in detail.
41:12
This method of attack is the plan which in this
41:15
book we shall advise you to follow. We will teach
41:18
you how to gain control of the basis of supplies,
41:21
and then how to attack one flank after another until
41:24
you have gained the control and mastery of the entire
41:26
organized forces of will power. Having accomplished this, you may
41:31
then press these captured forces into your own service, causing
41:34
them to fight for you instead of against you. You
41:38
should begin your attack upon that wing of the army
41:40
of will, which may be called the general phase of
41:42
conative will. In this category we include the feeling and
41:46
desire phases of will, which have been indicated in the
41:49
preceding section of this book. Conation is defined as that
41:54
element of our mental states which shows itself in tendencies, impulses, desires,
41:59
and acts of volition. Conation essentially is unrest. It exists
42:04
when in so far as an existing mental state tends
42:07
by its nature to develop into something else. Conation manifests
42:12
itself in an attempt an endeavor, a striving to attain
42:15
something of which the idea or mental image exists in
42:18
consciousness or subconsciousness. A typical instance is that effort of
42:23
the memory to recall a name which has escaped recollection
42:26
for the moment. It is on the mental plane, akin
42:30
to that which on the physical plane is manifested as
42:32
muscular strain arising from contraction of the muscles, plus a
42:36
feeling of pleasantness or unpleasantness, as the case may be.
42:40
A leading reference work says conation is common to desire, yearning, longing, craving, wishing,
42:47
and willing, indeed to all states of consciousness which have
42:50
an inherent tendency to pass beyond themselves. In desire, consciousness
42:55
endeavors to pass from the want of an object to
42:57
the possession thereof. Or if an un up pleasantly toned
43:00
idea enters consciousness, say the idea of an embarrassing situation,
43:05
the conation arises and consciousness makes a forcible effort to
43:09
eject the unpleasant idea. Conation is that mental state in
43:13
which the feeling element of desire tends to transform itself
43:16
into the element of will, where it transforms the I
43:19
want or I want to into I do. It follows
43:23
the rule of desire, which causes the movement towards the
43:26
object or condition promising the greater emotional satisfaction and content,
43:30
and away from the object or condition threatening the greater
43:33
emotional dissatisfaction and discontent. Will arises from affection. Affection arises
43:39
from emotion and feeling. Affection says I like, desire says
43:45
I want or I want to, and will says I do.
43:49
In order to understand conative will, you must first understand
43:53
and control the feelings, emotions, and affections from which conative
43:57
will springs. Very few persons realize that feeling, emotion affection
44:02
and desire are really phases of will. Psychology, however, informs
44:08
us that the conative will is the supply department of
44:10
the army of will power, that it is the branch
44:13
of the will power organization which supplies the active branches
44:16
of the service with the material with which they work
44:19
and without which they cannot manifest activity. It is very
44:23
important for you to realize this fact fully, since you
44:26
must begin your work of developing and training the will
44:28
by acquiring control over the processes of the feelings, emotions, affections,
44:33
and desires which go to make up that which is
44:35
called conative will. You are familiar with the praise accorded
44:39
to the strong will, but very likely you are not
44:42
quite so familiar with the fact that under the surface
44:45
of that valuable mental quality in power, there must always
44:48
exist a strong, ardent, insistent, and persistent desire. Without strong ardent,
44:54
insistent desire, even the strongest will will fail to be
44:57
called into action. Well, has it been said that desire
45:01
is the flame, the heat of which generates the steam
45:04
of will. The men of the strong will are almost
45:07
always found to be men of strong desire. What is
45:11
called aspiration and ambition is really merely a special form
45:15
of strong desire, given definite form and direction by idea. Likewise,
45:20
all forms of religious or spiritual craving or moral aspirations
45:25
are forms of desire. Nearly everyone believes that he has
45:29
desire well developed within his being, but as a matter
45:33
of fact, very few persons have even begun to realize
45:36
just what desire really is. The great masses of persons
45:40
believe desire to be merely the faint, colorless wanting or
45:44
the equally gentle mild wishing, which represents the extent of
45:48
their development of conative will. They usually have not even
45:52
the most remote idea of what it means or feels
45:55
like to be filled with that eager, longing, craving, ravenous
45:59
desire which excis expresses itself in an insistent demand for
46:02
the desired object or condition, and not in a mirror
46:05
wishing for it, or perhaps even longing for it. Such
46:09
persons have no conception or experience of what it is
46:12
to want a thing as fiercely, insistently, persistently, ardently, overwhelmingly,
46:18
and vitally as the drowning man wants a breath of air,
46:21
as the shipwrecked or desert lost man wants a drink
46:24
of water, as the famished man wants food, as the
46:27
fierce wild creature wants its mate, as the mother wants
46:31
the welfare of her young. Until they know by actual
46:34
experience what it feels like to want in this way,
46:38
they do not know what desire really is. You will
46:41
note that we repeatedly employ the above illustration of insistent
46:45
desire in this instruction. We do so purposely that its
46:49
repetition will stamp it indelibly upon your mind. But those
46:54
individuals of the race who have accomplished great things, those
46:57
great masters of circumstance, those great direct victors of fate
47:01
along all lines of human life and endeavor, men like Caesar, Napoleon,
47:05
and other men like them in less prominent places in life.
47:08
These men know full well what it means to experience
47:11
this fierce elemental thirst of desire, and their strong will
47:14
power has been aroused into action and maintained and persistent
47:18
in determined action by the elemental force. Thus set into
47:22
manifestation and expression. Such men and women act upon the
47:27
principle that you may have anything you want, provided that
47:30
you want it hard enough. And they begin by wanting
47:33
it hard enough. The failure of many persons is originally
47:37
caused by their lack of the power to want things
47:39
hard enough. When you learn to want a thing hard enough,
47:43
you will have taken the second great step on the
47:46
path of attainment, which is mounted by the energy of
47:48
will power. The first step is that of knowing just
47:51
what you want. Definite ideals and insistent desire. These with
47:55
will are the prerequisites of persistent determination. Is desire supplies
48:00
that motives for all action of the will. Without these motives,
48:05
the will would not proceed to action at all in
48:07
any direction whatsoever. If you had no desire concerning a
48:11
particular thing, then you would not manifest will activity toward
48:15
or away from that particular thing. In such case, you
48:19
would remain perfectly neutral and passive in your attitude toward
48:22
that thing. This holds good concerning your mental attitude and
48:26
action toward or away from anything or everything. The general
48:31
rule concerning the effect and influence of desire upon will
48:34
activity is as follows. You always act in the direction which,
48:38
at that particular moment of consciousness seems to promise the
48:41
greatest degree of emotional satisfaction and content, or which threatens
48:45
the least degree of emotional dissatisfaction or discontent, the promise
48:49
or threat being either direct or indirect, immediate or remote
48:53
in time and place. This rule holds good even when
48:57
you act to relinquish an immediate or present good in
48:59
mines favor of a future or remote good. Also when
49:02
you relinquish a present good because of the fear of
49:05
some unpleasant, remote, or future consequence of the action. In
49:09
all cases, you will find that your actions are based
49:11
upon the rule that one always seeks that which will
49:14
bring him pleasure or get rid of pain, immediate or remote,
49:18
for oneself or for others to whom he is bound
49:20
by ties of sympathy or affection. This pleasure or pain
49:24
may be on the planes of physical, mental, moral, or
49:27
spiritual emotional feeling, respectively. The principle applies to all planes
49:32
of emotional activity in manifestation. The technical rule of psychology
49:37
concerning will action is as follows. Though will proceeds to
49:40
action along the lines of the strongest motives present in active,
49:44
in thought and in feeling at the moment of the action.
49:48
In considering this rule, you must always remember that the
49:51
motive always is to be found in feeling, emotion, or
49:54
affection raised to the conative plane of desire, this being
49:58
more or less influenced and direct by reason, reason, intellect, memory,
50:03
and imagination, however, serve merely as the directors and aids
50:07
to the desire element of will. In such cases, at
50:11
the last, they are seen but to serve to point
50:14
out the road over which the strongest desires may travel
50:16
most efficiently and successfully, and whereby undesirable consequences may be avoided.
50:22
They indicate merely the how and the direction whereby the
50:25
desire may be most effectively and fully satisfied. The realization
50:30
of this absolute, but comparatively little known rule concerning will
50:33
action brings us to some startling logical conclusions. When we
50:37
seek to reason out the matter to its end. We
50:40
then see that our highest and most unselfish as well
50:43
as our lowest and most selfish actions, are performed under
50:46
this same rule. You must not for a moment fall
50:49
into the error of identifying desire with merely the unworthy
50:53
examples of that mental state. On the contrary, the very
50:56
highest aims, aspirations, ambitions, and striving toward high ideals are
51:01
likewise in the category of desire. Anything that we wish
51:05
to do, want to do or strive to do high
51:08
or low, egoistic or altruistic, moral or immoral, social or unsocial,
51:14
commendable or reprehensible, material or spiritual. All these are forms
51:18
of desire based upon feeling, emotion, affection. The highest morality
51:24
is that based upon the strong feeling, emotion, affection, and
51:27
desire to live a moral life which satisfies and contents
51:31
the spirit, rather than upon fear or the mere wish
51:34
to be well regarded by other persons and to meet
51:36
with popular approval. But here you must not fall into
51:41
the error or fallacy of believing that man is a
51:43
mere automaton moved hither and thither by desire, or as
51:47
a mere helpless slave of desire. While it is true
51:50
that you act by and through your will, and that
51:53
desire is the motive of will activity, it likewise is
51:56
true that by the introduction of ideas and ideals, even
51:59
desire is given form and direction, strength and power toward
52:03
a definite end. By means of the scientific introduction of
52:07
ideas and ideals, you may give to any form, phase, aspect,
52:11
or mode of desire in feeling a degree of strength
52:14
and power which it did not possess previously. In such cases,
52:18
your will wills that desire shall be in accordance with will.
52:21
It wills that it shall be supplied with the right
52:23
kind of desire power, which is required in order to
52:26
call into activity the needed degree of will power. The
52:30
untrained will is like a stream flowing through a channel
52:32
dug for it by others. The trained will, on the contrary,
52:36
first digs its own channel and then flows through itself imposed,
52:39
self limited banks and walls. It is self limited and
52:43
at the last self directed. Keen reasoners at this point
52:48
sometimes object that even in such cases, will is moved
52:51
by desire in some form or degree. Such reasoners hold
52:55
that all that the will accomplishes in such cases is
52:58
to master one set of feelings and desires in favor
53:01
of a higher and more dominant set. This is close reasoning,
53:06
It is logically correct and has never been successfully controverted.
53:10
But even so, the principle of the control of desire
53:13
by the will remains undisturbed so far as is concerned
53:16
its pragmatic and practical application. While you may never expect
53:21
to escape the influence of desire even in your highest
53:24
will activities, yet you may stand upon the high position
53:27
of the dominant will, and from that position may control, stimulate, weaken, encourage,
53:33
or depress the power of the lower forms of desire
53:35
and feeling. In fact, when you reach the heights of
53:39
will power, you will find that the element of desire
53:41
seems almost to blend into the essential element of will itself,
53:45
almost to become identical with it. In such cases, you
53:49
will be forced to the conscious conviction that here, at
53:51
the last, you have ceased merely to desire to will,
53:55
and instead have reached the point where you are able
53:57
to will to will. Be the metaphysical theory, whatever it may,
54:01
The fact remains that to him who has climbed the
54:03
heights of will, there sooner or later comes this supreme
54:06
report of consciousness, of the freedom of the ultimate will.
54:10
But such heights are reached only by those individuals who
54:13
have paid the price of attainment, who have persistently climbed
54:16
the steep mountain paths of will power, and have at
54:18
last reached the clear space at the top. Such experiences
54:23
are unknown to the great masses of the people. The
54:26
average person is practically the slave of his desire, usually
54:30
of his cruder and most primitive ones. He does not
54:33
understand even the first principles of the mastery of desire
54:36
by the dominant will. The great mass of persons are
54:39
will slaves. There are but few real will masters. Here
54:44
in a nutshell is the distinction between the will slave
54:47
and the will master. The average person is moved to
54:50
will activity by the forces of feeling, affection, and desire,
54:54
the strongest desire motive always winning the day. Those who
54:58
have arrived at a scientific understanding of the subject, however,
55:01
know that while it is true that the strongest desire
55:04
always wins the battle, nevertheless, it is equally true that
55:08
the strength of feeling, affection, and desire is directly proportionate
55:12
to the strength of the ideas or ideals animating it. Consequently,
55:16
by the skillful employment of attention itself, one of the
55:19
principal weapons of will, in the direction of holding in
55:22
consciousness a certain set of ideas or ideals, one may
55:26
cause these ideas or ideals to energize the set of
55:29
feelings and desires associated with them, and at the same
55:32
time to weaken the opposite set of feelings and desires.
55:36
By the control of the attention, the I am I,
55:39
through the will, is able to control feeling and desire,
55:43
to make them act as his servants, and thus to
55:45
attain to the mastery of will. By the scientific employment
55:49
of ideas and ideals. Through the attention, you may control, direct,
55:54
and master the activities of the conative will. But, as
55:58
we have said, the average person has not even the
56:00
faintest glimmering of this truth, and as a consequence, such
56:04
person remains throughout his life a wile slave instead of
56:07
becoming a will master. It is an axiom of psychology
56:11
that the degree of force, energy, will, determination, persistence, and
56:16
continuous application manifested by an individual in his aspirations, ambitions, aims, performances, actions,
56:23
and work is determined primarily by the degree of his
56:26
desire for the attainment of his objects, his degree of
56:29
want and want to concerning those objects. This is the
56:33
more technical statement of the principle embodied in the aphorism
56:37
which has been previously quoted to you. I e. Desire
56:40
is the flame that produces the steam of will, the
56:43
logical inference being that when you wish to produce and
56:46
use the steam of will, you must first supply the
56:48
full flame of desire. In that book of this series
56:51
entitled Desire Power, we have considered in close detail the
56:55
subject of desire in its relation to other forms and
56:58
phases of personal power, include uoting the phase of will
57:01
power in it. We have drawn upon familiar human experience
57:05
and upon the facts of natural history concerning animal life,
57:08
for the purpose of illustrating the nature and character of
57:11
desire regarded as the motive power of will activity, et cetera.
57:16
The following paragraph marked by quotation marks reproduced from the
57:20
pages of the book referred to follows the presentation of
57:23
those illustrations. We advise you to study carefully the principle
57:27
announced therein, and to commit to memory the spirit of
57:30
those principles, as expressed in the Master Formula of Attainment,
57:34
as follows, You may have anything you want, provided that
57:37
you one know exactly what you want, two want it
57:42
hard enough, free confidently expect to obtain it, four persistently
57:47
determined to obtain it, and five are willing to pay
57:51
the price of its attainment. We have called your attention
57:54
to the above examples and illustrations of the force of
57:57
strongly aroused elemental emotions and desires, not alone to point
58:01
out to you how strong such feelings, emotions, and desires
58:05
become under the appropriate circumstances and conditions, but also to
58:09
bring you to a realization of the existence within all
58:12
living things of a latent emotional strength and power, which
58:15
is capable of being aroused into strenuous activity under the
58:18
proper stimulus and directed toward certain definite ends and purposes
58:23
indicated by that stimulus. That this strength and power is
58:28
aroused by and flows out toward the particular forms of
58:31
stimulus above indicated is a matter of common knowledge. But
58:36
that it may be aroused to equal strength, power, and
58:39
intensity by other forms of stimulus. Such stimulus, having been
58:42
deliberately placed before it by the individual, is not known
58:46
to the many. Only the few have learned this secret.
58:49
The method above referred to, whereby the latent desire power
58:53
may be aroused and stimulated by the presentation to it
58:56
of the stimulus of suggestive and inciting ideas and mental pickicure,
59:00
is based upon the following psychological principle. Desire is aroused
59:04
and flows forth toward things represented by suggestive ideas and
59:08
mental pictures. The stronger and clearer the suggestive idea or
59:12
mental picture, the stronger and more insistent is the aroused desire,
59:16
all else being equal, The knowledge of and the application
59:20
of this principle renders you the master of desire instead
59:23
of the slave of desire, the latter condition and state
59:26
being that of the great multitude of persons who have
59:28
not learned the secret of the mastery of desire. The
59:31
following quotation from Professor Halleck will serve to illustrate the
59:35
principle involved in the process of the employment of the
59:38
power of attention in the direction of presenting to desire
59:41
the stimulus of suggestive ideas and mental images in order
59:44
to more fully arouse and to further strengthen the feeling
59:47
and conative tendency. Hallick says, the first step in the
59:51
development of the will lies in the exercise of attention.
59:55
There is a sense of effort involuntary attention. Ideas grow
59:59
in distinctness and in motor power as we attend to them.
1:00:03
If we take two ideas of the same intensity and
1:00:06
center the attention upon one, we shall notice how much
1:00:09
it grows in power. Take the sensations from two aches
1:00:13
in a body and fix attention upon those of one
1:00:15
of them, that idea will grow in motor power until
1:00:19
we may act in a direction supposed to relieve that
1:00:21
special pain, while the other is comparatively neglected. If we
1:00:26
at the start want several things in about an equal degree,
1:00:29
whether a bicycle, a typewriter, or a cyclopedia, we shall
1:00:33
end by wanting that the most on which our attention
1:00:36
has been most strongly centered. The bicycle idea, may thus
1:00:40
gain more motor power than either of the two other,
1:00:43
or if we keep thinking how useful a cyclopedia would be,
1:00:46
action may tend in that direction. We may state as
1:00:50
a law the fact that the will determine which motives
1:00:52
shall become the strongest by determining which ideas shall occupy
1:00:56
the field of consciousness. Every idea which becomes an object
1:01:00
of desire is a motive. It is true that the
1:01:03
will tends to go out in the direction of the
1:01:05
greatest motive, that is, toward the object which seems most desirable.
1:01:10
But the will, through voluntary attention, puts energy into a
1:01:13
motive idea and thus makes it strong. It is impossible
1:01:17
to center the attention long upon an idea without developing
1:01:21
positive or negative interest, attraction, or repulsion. Thus does the
1:01:25
will develop motives. We have seen that emotion and desire
1:01:29
arise in the presence of ideas, and that the will
1:01:32
has influence in detaining or banishing a given idea. If
1:01:36
one idea is kept before the mind, a desire and
1:01:39
strong motive may gather around that idea. If another idea
1:01:44
is called in, the power of the first will decline.
1:01:47
The more Macbeth and his wife held before themselves the
1:01:50
idea of the fame and power which the throne would
1:01:53
confer upon them, the stronger became the desire to kill
1:01:56
the king, until it finally grew too strong to be mastered.
1:02:00
They were, however, responsible for nursing the desire. Had they
1:02:04
resolutely thought of something else, the desire would have been weakened.
1:02:09
The suggestive ideas and mental pictures which we have urged
1:02:12
you to employ in order to arouse and heighten the
1:02:14
vigor and power of desire are as follows, suggestive ideas
1:02:18
and mental pictures serving to awaken deeper and stronger feeling
1:02:22
and emotion concerning the object of your desire, and tending
1:02:25
toward awakening a stronger degree of affection for that object, which,
1:02:29
as a consequence, heightens the flame of desire and thus
1:02:32
produces a greater pressure of the steam of will. These
1:02:36
suggestive ideas and mental pictures should tempt the appetite of
1:02:40
the desire by presenting to it pictures and suggestions of
1:02:43
the satisfaction, content, pleasure, and joy which will follow the
1:02:47
achievements or attainment of the objects of the desire. This
1:02:51
principle is elaborated in that book of this series entitled
1:02:54
Desire Power, in which are also given suggestions and methods
1:02:58
designed to aid the working out of the principle. Will
1:03:02
Power Your Dynamic Forces by William Walker Atkinson, nineteen twenty two.
1:03:09
Deliberative Will. You are now asked to consider that phase
1:03:13
of power known as the stage of deliberative will. Deliberation
1:03:17
is defined as the act of deliberating or weighing in
1:03:21
the mind. In the stage of deliberation, you weigh with
1:03:24
more or less care, the general or special alternative courses
1:03:27
of action presenting themselves to the will. Each of the
1:03:31
alternative courses possesses certain points of attraction and also certain
1:03:35
points of repulsion. The attractive points arise from the promise
1:03:39
of emotional satisfaction and content. The points of repulsion arise
1:03:43
from the threat of emotional dissatisfaction and discontent. These opposing
1:03:48
points are to be balanced one against the other to
1:03:51
the end that the stage of determination and the resulting
1:03:53
stage of voluntary action may be reached, and the processes
1:03:57
of will thereby complete. It probably have been accustomed to
1:04:01
regard the process of deliberation as one concerned solely with
1:04:04
intellectual activity. You probably have imagined that when you deliberate
1:04:09
concerning alternative courses of action, you approach the matter in
1:04:12
the spirit of cold reasoning, and that your decision is
1:04:15
made wholly from the standpoint of logical judgment. But as
1:04:19
a matter of fact, the part played by your intellect
1:04:22
and reason in the deliberation concerning actions, and in the
1:04:25
judgments resulting from this usually is merely the part of
1:04:28
the searcher after facts relating to one the direction and
1:04:32
means whereby the greatest emotional satisfaction and content may be secured,
1:04:36
and two the probable results of the action along the
1:04:39
lines of either of the two alternative courses, the said
1:04:43
results always being measured by their probable effect upon your
1:04:46
state of emotional satisfaction and content. In short, your reason
1:04:52
is employed to search the records of experience in order
1:04:55
to discover and uncover the associations and relations of each
1:04:58
of the two alternative courses of Ever to the end
1:05:01
that you may have the fullest possible information concerning the
1:05:04
probable ultimate emotional value of each action, and also to
1:05:07
discover and recommend to the will the most effective methods
1:05:10
whereby you may apply either of the alternative courses of action,
1:05:14
if such be accepted. It is true that in the
1:05:17
case of persons of trained intellectual powers, of wide experience,
1:05:21
well stocked memory, and active constructive imagination, the intellectual faculties
1:05:26
play a far more important part in the processes of
1:05:29
deliberation and decision than in the cases in which these
1:05:32
processes are performed by persons lacking those mental qualifications. And
1:05:36
this extended experience reason performs valuable services in the direction
1:05:41
of holding up to the will the probable results of
1:05:43
given alternative courses of action, that the will may more
1:05:47
clearly determine the actual emotional value of those courses. It
1:05:51
also renders valuable service to the will in the matter
1:05:54
of discovering, uncovering, inventing, and creating methods whereby the good
1:05:59
of the will may be be realized and expressed. In
1:06:02
this and in similar ways, it provides the will with
1:06:06
positive and negative motives for choice and action, and thus
1:06:09
throws additional weight into the alternative courses upon which deliberation
1:06:13
is being had. Reason serves will in this way by
1:06:17
placing its forces of memory, imagination, and association of ideas
1:06:21
at the disposal of will. It also aids will in
1:06:25
the direction of furnishing it with the fullest possible information
1:06:28
concerning the alternative courses of action under consideration, by telling
1:06:32
it all about them to the best of its ability.
1:06:35
This is of the greatest value in the process of deliberation,
1:06:38
and very often determines the decision. A course of action
1:06:43
clearly and definitely known has a very great advantage as
1:06:46
a candidate for will action over one not so known.
1:06:50
Reason proceeds to aid will in this way with a
1:06:52
machine like coldness, provided that emotion be kept from interfering
1:06:56
with the work. Reason has nothing to gain but the
1:06:59
satisfaction of its own nature. In thought, Reason is very
1:07:02
cold blooded and tends to proceed with the appalling and
1:07:05
exorableness of a machine. It is unfeeling and unmoral. It
1:07:10
proceeds logically from premise to conclusion without regard to emotional
1:07:14
or moral values. But at the last reason, acting as
1:07:18
an aid to always is found to be operating merely
1:07:21
in the direction of discovering facts concerning the probable emotional
1:07:24
value of courses of action under consideration, or else to
1:07:28
be planning and deciding upon the most effective methods of
1:07:31
expressing and manifesting those desires or ideas and ideals connected
1:07:35
with desires which have been accepted by the will as
1:07:38
containing the promise of emotional value. In short, reason in
1:07:43
such cases is concerned merely with the task of uncovering
1:07:46
or in directing the effective expression of certain courses of
1:07:49
action possessing emotional value. This emotional value is always determined
1:07:55
by the greater degree of promised emotional satisfaction and content,
1:07:59
or the least degree of threatened emotional dissatisfaction and discontent.
1:08:03
You should note here, however, the following distinction. The emotional
1:08:07
element is directly involved only in deliberation and decision concerning
1:08:11
the advisability of performing certain actions or courses of action.
1:08:16
It is involved in this way in all questions of
1:08:18
to do or not to do, and to all questions
1:08:21
of which of these two courses of action shall I choose.
1:08:24
It is not involved in this way in cases of
1:08:27
purely intellectual effort or processes of logical reasoning, as for instance,
1:08:32
in the working out of problems of formal logic or mathematics.
1:08:37
Neither is it directly involved in cases in which reason
1:08:40
is called upon to decide and determine which of certain ideas, plans, methods,
1:08:44
or courses of procedure will best serve to accomplish certain
1:08:47
definite ends and aims. In cases of the latter class,
1:08:51
the deliberation and decision concerning the advisability of undertaking certain
1:08:55
tasks or courses of action have been previously performed along
1:08:59
the lad lines of comparative emotional value, and all that
1:09:02
now remains to be deliberated and decided is how best
1:09:06
to carry out and execute the designs already adopted, and
1:09:10
in what way may best be accomplished the ends already
1:09:13
accepted as being emotionally advantageous. The rule, however, applies invariably
1:09:19
to all cases in which you experience the conflicting pulls
1:09:22
or pushes of I want to do this in one way,
1:09:25
while in another way I do not want to do it,
1:09:27
Or in cases in which you say to yourself, this
1:09:30
seems to be what I want or to lead to
1:09:32
what I want, but I fear that it may bring
1:09:34
about complications or related results which I do not want,
1:09:38
or where you say to yourself, I want to do
1:09:40
this and I want to do that, but I do
1:09:43
not know which I want to do more then the other.
1:09:47
In such cases, the conflict really is a desired conflict
1:09:50
or an emotional conflict, and not a direct intellectual conflict
1:09:54
at all. You may feel inclined to resent this statement,
1:09:58
and probably may even indig deny its truth. Many persons
1:10:02
feel this way when first this fact is presented to them.
1:10:05
For most of us like to think that we decide
1:10:07
every question of conduct and action from the standpoint of
1:10:10
pure logic and cold reason, but we do not do
1:10:13
so at all in cases such as we have just mentioned.
1:10:16
If you cannot see the truth of this statement and
1:10:19
are inclined to dispute it, you would do well to
1:10:21
submit it to the following test of your own reason
1:10:23
and experience and settle it at once and for all.
1:10:27
For unless it is settled in your mind, you may
1:10:29
not be able to enter fully into the spirit of
1:10:31
certain points of our instruction which are based upon this
1:10:33
particular psychological principle. Here is the test of reason and experience.
1:10:39
Apply it to yourself honestly and in the scientific spirit,
1:10:42
and answer it in the same way, ask yourself the
1:10:45
following questions, what are the true reasons governing my decisions
1:10:49
concerning alternative courses of action and conduct, or of refraining
1:10:53
from any certain action or course of conduct in which
1:10:56
the element of feeling, emotion, affection, or desire is involved?
1:11:01
Do I or do I not? Consider and decide the
1:11:04
question of shall I or shall I not? Or which
1:11:07
shall I do? Or choose from the standpoint and with
1:11:10
the motive of securing the greatest emotional satisfaction and content
1:11:13
or the least emotional dissatisfaction and discontent, the greatest pleasure
1:11:18
or the least pain. In answering these questions, ye should
1:11:22
bear in mind that the pleasure and pain may be
1:11:24
immediate and remote, and may be concerned directly with your
1:11:27
own personal experience or that of others in whom you
1:11:30
are interested, or to whom you are connected by the
1:11:32
bonds of sympathy or affection. All of these forms of
1:11:36
emotional satisfaction and content or emotional dissatisfaction discontent come under
1:11:41
the general rule. A careful self analysis and a frank,
1:11:46
honest report based thereupon is certain to bring to you
1:11:49
the conviction that your deliberations and decisions in cases of
1:11:52
this kind concerning your actions or courses of conduct, invariably
1:11:56
are conducted and made upon this basis of the greatest
1:11:59
emotion value. The reasons for your actions and courses of
1:12:03
conduct are never divorced from your feelings, affections, and desires.
1:12:08
In fact, in the absence of feeling, affection, and desire,
1:12:12
there could not and would not be any reasons at
1:12:15
all for your actions or courses of conduct. The only reason,
1:12:19
the only cause and because of your actions, or of
1:12:23
your choice of actions, or of your acting at all,
1:12:26
is the reason, the cause, and the because arising from
1:12:30
the promise of emotional satisfaction and content, or the threat
1:12:34
of the opposite results the probable emotional value, in short,
1:12:38
passed upon to some extent by reason. Sometimes it is
1:12:42
difficult to trace back the path to the determining feeling, affection,
1:12:46
or desire of an action or course of conduct, so
1:12:49
remote or so complex such may be at times, but
1:12:52
the influence of the feeling, the affection, or the desire
1:12:55
is always there, animating and inspiring the action or course
1:12:58
of conduct, or otherwise there would and could be no reason, cause,
1:13:04
or because at all for your conduct or action, and
1:13:07
consequently no answer to the question why asked concerning such
1:13:13
action or conduct. In this connection, you should remember that
1:13:17
we include habit resulting from antecedent actions based upon emotional
1:13:21
content among the emotional motives. You know that it is
1:13:24
more comfortable to act according to habit than contrary. There too,
1:13:28
and comfortable implies feeling and desire. Before conative will is
1:13:33
transformed into active will, there must occur a greater or
1:13:36
less degree of mental activity in the stage of deliberation.
1:13:40
Conative will become transformed into active will only in response
1:13:44
to some idea or object, calling it forth into expression
1:13:47
and manifestation. There are usually several alternative ideas or objects
1:13:52
presented to the will for decision and choice, or at
1:13:55
least there is the alternative of to do or not
1:13:57
to do. Here, deliberative will will, assisted by intellect, ways
1:14:02
and appraises these conflicting alternatives. The process of deliberation may
1:14:06
be extended over a considerable period of time, or else
1:14:09
it may be almost instantaneous, but it is always performed
1:14:14
pleasure and pain. Agreeable or disagreeable mental states are the
1:14:18
precedence of all definite activities of will. Action is found
1:14:22
always to proceed towards the most agreeable and away from
1:14:25
the most disagreeable mental state. The will is always interested,
1:14:30
never disinterested in its actions. It always moves to gain
1:14:34
some end, to acquire something which to it seems good.
1:14:38
Life is largely a matter of securing the agreeable and
1:14:41
escaping the disagreeable. But it must not be forgotten that
1:14:45
by the shifting of the mental point of view, our
1:14:47
emotional feelings often change from the agreeable to the disagreeable,
1:14:51
and vice versa. Sometimes there is a violent shifting from
1:14:54
one pole to the other of our emotional nature. Such
1:14:58
changes arise from the discre recovery of new attributes in
1:15:01
the objects and ideas presenting themselves for deliberation, decision, and determination. Thus,
1:15:08
while feeling, affection and desire are the motives for all
1:15:11
will actions, the other mental faculties play an important part
1:15:14
by presenting to them the ideas and mental images which
1:15:17
tend to influence and direct the emotional faculties, and thus
1:15:21
have an important influence on will itself. Finding your definite purposes,
1:15:27
we shall now illustrate to you the process of deliberative
1:15:30
will by an appeal to your own personal experience. While
1:15:34
doing this, you will also be obtaining some practical exercise
1:15:37
along the lines of efficient deliberative will work in activity.
1:15:41
In the following illustrations and examples, the particular principles under
1:15:45
consideration will be brought out, and at the same time
1:15:48
you will take several important steps in the direction of
1:15:50
actual practice and training of your will power. Instead of
1:15:54
illustrating the principles in question by introducing abstract and impersonal
1:15:58
examples or instances, we shall employ illustrations and examples from
1:16:03
your own personal experiences, so that in examining these illustrative examples,
1:16:07
you will at the same time be actually exercising the
1:16:10
mental faculties which furnish them. Begin by asking yourself the
1:16:14
following question. For what purpose do I wish to develop
1:16:17
and train my will power and to manifest it in action?
1:16:21
In What direction do I wish to apply and employ
1:16:23
it when I have acquired it? What is the chief
1:16:26
end which I seek to accomplish and to attain through
1:16:29
the possession and manifestation of developed and trained will power.
1:16:33
Upon Your answers to these questions must depend the character
1:16:36
of the special instruction and information to be obtained by
1:16:39
you from the study of this book. Think well over
1:16:42
these questions, ponder them carefully, and answer them fully, frankly,
1:16:46
and honestly to yourself. You will do well to commit
1:16:50
your answers to writing for future reference. To think with
1:16:53
pencil and paper is a very helpful method, and one
1:16:56
advised in this course of instruction. The followings, suggestions and
1:17:00
advice should materially aid you in this task of discovering
1:17:04
and uncovering your definite purposes toward the attainment and achievement
1:17:07
of which you seek to develop and train your will power.
1:17:11
If you are like most persons who undertake this task
1:17:13
of determination of their definite purposes, which they seek to
1:17:17
attain and achieve by means of their will power, you
1:17:19
will find yourself perplexed to furnish the correct answers to
1:17:22
the questions just propounded to you, and which you are
1:17:25
expected to answer as fully as possible. You, like many others,
1:17:30
probably have not as yet found yourself in this important matter.
1:17:34
That is to say, you have not as yet discovered
1:17:37
and uncovered your definite purposes in life. If this be so,
1:17:41
then this instruction has reached you at the right time,
1:17:44
because until you discover and uncover your definite purposes. You
1:17:48
cannot expect to employ efficiently even that degree of will
1:17:51
power which you have already developed, not to speak of
1:17:53
that additional degree which you hope to attain. Most persons
1:17:58
in this stage, and this probably incline Dude yourself, find
1:18:01
themselves filled with merely a vague, in general, though perhaps
1:18:04
quite strong, inclination tendency to push forward into action, thereby
1:18:09
to attain and achieve that which will be good to
1:18:11
them and for them. They feel the general outward pressure
1:18:15
of conative will, but they do not as yet know
1:18:18
in just what direction to exert that inner power. This
1:18:21
condition is all right so far as it goes, but
1:18:24
it does not go far enough. The sensible power is there,
1:18:29
but will power without definite purpose is inefficient and useless.
1:18:33
There is needed here, a strong, definite, positive, purposive direction
1:18:37
for the conative will. We shall now present to you
1:18:41
the methods whereby this needed element may be supplied dominant desires.
1:18:47
In the first place, ye should discover your dominant desires
1:18:50
i e. The strongest and most insistent desires which abide
1:18:54
within your mental and emotional being. It is no easy
1:18:58
matter to discover and uncover yourdy dominant desires. Without some
1:19:01
instruction concerning the process, you will find that your mental
1:19:05
and emotional being is filled with a multitude of desires,
1:19:08
great and small, transient and permanent, many of which oppose
1:19:12
and interfere with others. There is required of you a
1:19:16
determined and careful weighing in measuring of your desires, the
1:19:19
element of depth and width, as well as of weight
1:19:22
being taken into the calculation. There must be a weeding
1:19:25
of the desire garden, a cutting away of the dead
1:19:28
wood of the tree of desire, a test of strength
1:19:31
and vitality between opposing sets of desires, resulting in the
1:19:34
survival of the fittest. In that book of this series
1:19:38
entitled Desire Power, we have gone into detail and into
1:19:41
an extended consideration of this process of the discovery of
1:19:44
the dominant desires to which you are referred. If you
1:19:47
are especially interested in the subject. The detailed and extended
1:19:51
consideration of this special feature cannot be repeated in this
1:19:54
book and is confined to that book dealing with the
1:19:57
special subject of desire power. Following condensed synopsis, however, will
1:20:02
serve to give you the essence and substance of the
1:20:05
general principle involved. One, the regions of the mind are
1:20:09
explored for the purpose of bringing to light the various feelings, emotions, affections, longings,
1:20:15
and desires which compose your emotional nature. These, as they
1:20:20
are brought to light, are carefully noted on a written list.
1:20:24
Two then begins the process of elimination as follows. A.
1:20:28
The weaker and less insistent desires and those plainly of
1:20:31
a transient, passing nature are struck from the list, leaving
1:20:35
their only the stronger and more permanent ones. B. The
1:20:38
list is then again carefully scrutinized. Those desires which stand
1:20:43
out by reason of their superior power are retained, the
1:20:46
remainder being eliminated. C. The process is continued along these
1:20:50
lines of critical selection until further elimination is deemed inadvisable
1:20:56
for fear of cutting away live wood. Three. Then and
1:21:00
the surviving desires are arranged into classes, and these classes
1:21:03
are subjected to competition with each other, the stronger and
1:21:07
more permanent being retained, while the weaker and less permanent
1:21:10
are discarded. Four. Then the surviving sets of desires are
1:21:14
compared carefully for the purpose of discovering antagonism and opposition,
1:21:18
i e. The qualities of contradiction which render coordination and
1:21:22
harmonious cooperation impossible, and which tend to pull the will
1:21:26
in two opposite directions, and thus to bring it to
1:21:28
a standstill or dead center. Five, The opposing and contradictory
1:21:33
sets of qualities must be pitted in competition against each other.
1:21:37
For one or the other must be discarded from the
1:21:39
field of the will. Each must be viewed from every
1:21:43
possible mental and emotional angle and subjected to the most
1:21:46
rigid tests. The final result will reveal the stronger of
1:21:50
each opposing in contradictory sets of qualities, Those which have
1:21:54
won in the struggle for existence, and which represent the
1:21:57
survival of the fittest survivors in this process of selection
1:22:02
and elimination, will represent the strongest and most deeply rooted
1:22:05
desires of the individual, and will constitute his dominant desires.
1:22:10
These dominant desires represent his strongest and most enduring affections,
1:22:14
based upon his most vigorous, hearty, and sturdy feelings, and
1:22:18
rising to the stage of conative will in the form
1:22:20
of insistent desire. They represent that which one wants hard enough,
1:22:25
wants so insistently as to render him willing to pay
1:22:28
the price of its attainment energizing ideas. But desire is
1:22:34
not the only element involved in deliberative will. In fact,
1:22:38
it may be said that every great department of mental
1:22:41
activity is involved. Therein the presence of ideas and ideals
1:22:46
is necessary in the process of deliberation. Action is influenced
1:22:50
by representative ideas of objects and things of the outside world.
1:22:55
Each clear and strong idea opens a path to possible action,
1:22:59
and therefore constitutes an element of the deliberative process. Memory
1:23:04
and imagination are also called into play with great effect
1:23:08
in the processes of deliberative will. Professor Halleck says, the
1:23:12
greater variety of ideas a man has, the more numerous
1:23:16
are the courses of action open to him. If an
1:23:19
intelligent physician has an idea of twenty five different methods
1:23:22
of treating rheumatism, he may vary his treatment accordingly and
1:23:26
may succeed where a less skilled doctor would fail. If
1:23:30
a business man has a dozen ideas to fit a
1:23:32
given emergency, he may act in any one of these directions.
1:23:36
If he has but one idea, he can act, but
1:23:38
in one direction. Idea must proceed to open a path
1:23:42
for intelligent action. Before Columbus sailed, he had an idea
1:23:47
of land beyond the seas. Even a plumber must have
1:23:51
an idea of how to make a short cut for
1:23:53
his pipe before he can do it. The same well
1:23:56
known teacher said deliberation is a process of both intel
1:24:00
sellect and will, of intellect to represent ideas and compare them,
1:24:03
and of will to hold the ideas before the attention,
1:24:06
or to dismiss them and make room for others. In
1:24:09
the deliberative process, the whole man makes himself felt. All
1:24:13
his past experiences count in impulsive action, the momentary state triumphs.
1:24:20
Let us take a rational human action and see how
1:24:22
much deliberation may be involved in it. I wish to
1:24:26
leave the city during the heated term. Before I act,
1:24:30
I not only have the desire to go, but I
1:24:32
must know where to go. I find out the location,
1:24:36
the merits, and the defects of a number of summer resorts.
1:24:40
Then I proceed to deliberate. I has surf bathing, B
1:24:44
is on a mountain and has fine tonic air. C
1:24:47
is nearby, and some of my friends are going there.
1:24:50
But the mosquitoes are annoying and will not allow one
1:24:52
to take a walk with any comfort. D has fine
1:24:55
air and no mosquitoes. But the place is too fashionable
1:24:58
and too much given to dress. He suits for all
1:25:01
reasons save that it is too expensive. F would answer,
1:25:04
but it is too far off. I then take into
1:25:07
my deliberations the possibility of staying all summer in the city.
1:25:12
Three hot days come, the nights are so warm that
1:25:16
one cannot sleep. I then continue my deliberations about the
1:25:20
summer resorts. Will is necessarily present in its most important
1:25:25
aspect in every act of deliberation. I balance one idea
1:25:29
against another by will power. I turn my attention undivided
1:25:33
upon one idea. Then I dismiss it and turn my
1:25:36
attention to another. I consider the surf bathing of A,
1:25:40
the mountain air of B, the annoyance at C, the
1:25:43
fashion at D, the expense at E, the distance to F.
1:25:48
The intellectual faculties are called into play in the processes
1:25:51
of deliberative will in the way pictured in the above
1:25:53
illustration concerning the matter of choice of summer resorts. It
1:25:58
produces from the region of imaginationation, and memory many facts,
1:26:01
bearing upon each of the alternative courses of action. It
1:26:05
brings up the associated and related facts which add to
1:26:08
or detract from the merits of the alternative. It also
1:26:12
serves to expose the false nature of some of the
1:26:14
alternative courses of action, and to add to the validity
1:26:17
of others. It acts in the direction of choosing and
1:26:21
adapting means to give an ends, and it establishes the
1:26:24
logical relation of cause and effect between different things. Before
1:26:28
one can know what he wants, he must understand the
1:26:31
true nature of the alternative wants. He must know the
1:26:34
relations and consequences, the associations and the results of particular
1:26:39
courses of action. The person who wishes to know intelligently
1:26:43
just what he wants and just what course of general
1:26:46
action will bring to him the greatest ultimate content and satisfaction,
1:26:50
must employ his reasoning faculties. In addition to exploring his
1:26:53
emotional nature. He must use head as well as heart.
1:26:58
He must learn how to observe an examine things, how
1:27:01
to obtain correct perceptions, how to form logical judgments, how
1:27:05
to use his powers of imagination and memory in the task.
1:27:09
As Halleck has said, in the deliberative process, the whole
1:27:13
man makes himself felt the subject of deliberative will blends
1:27:17
into and harmonizes with that of determinative will. In many particulars.
1:27:22
Determination is the final step or stage of deliberation and
1:27:26
at the same time the first step or stage of
1:27:29
voluntary action. With this fact in mind, let us now
1:27:33
proceed to the consideration of determinative will, to which subject.
1:27:36
The following section of this book is devoted Will Power
1:27:40
Your Dynamic Forces by William Walker Atkinson, nineteen twenty two.
1:27:47
Determinative will. The stage of determination is the fourth stage
1:27:51
of the will process. Determination is defined as follows. One
1:27:57
the act of terminating or bringing to an end the
1:27:59
state of decision, also to strength and firmness of mind,
1:28:04
firm resolve or resolution, and absolute direction to a certain end.
1:28:09
The first definition indicates the termination or ending of the
1:28:12
process of deliberation the decision resulting from the process of deliberation.
1:28:17
The second definition indicates the beginning of a new process,
1:28:21
i e. The process of impulsion toward voluntary action and
1:28:25
the direction of that impulse. In the following consideration of
1:28:29
determinative well, you will see that both of these stages
1:28:31
are manifested by will. Passing through the stage of determination,
1:28:36
you must remember here that in studying this subject, you
1:28:39
are employing a method which may be stated as finding
1:28:42
your definite purposes, and which is represented by the effort
1:28:45
to answer the following questions which you have propounded to yourself.
1:28:49
For what purpose do I wish to develop and train
1:28:52
my will power and to manifest it in action? In
1:28:55
What direction do I wish to apply and employ it
1:28:58
when I have acquired it? What is the chief end
1:29:01
which I seek to accomplish and to attain through the
1:29:03
possession of developed and trained will power. You have subjected
1:29:07
these questions to the test of the deliberative will, and
1:29:10
are now presenting them to the determinative will for decision
1:29:13
and for subsequent positive action upon that decision. The process
1:29:18
of deliberation cannot be arrived at at the present time
1:29:21
in absence of sufficient evidence to warrant an intelligent conclusion.
1:29:25
Professor Halleck illustrates the act of decision following his deliberation
1:29:29
concerning the Summer Resort previously quoted as follows. With reference
1:29:34
to the Summer Resort, deliberation does not end the voluntary process.
1:29:38
The act of will is yet incomplete. Something more is necessary,
1:29:43
then one a desire to go and two deliberation about
1:29:47
a large number of resorts. My next voluntary step is
1:29:51
to choose among the many resorts concerning which I have
1:29:54
been deliberating, and to decide to go to one G
1:29:58
satisfies my reason for the place has sailing and fishing,
1:30:01
good walks, few mosquitoes, and moderate charges. I then cut
1:30:06
short the deliberation and decide to go to G. Decision
1:30:09
is a termination of the process of deliberation. The illustration
1:30:14
just quoted, however, ends with the performance of the first
1:30:17
stage or phase of determinative will, i e. The stage
1:30:20
in which the deliberation is brought to an end and
1:30:23
the decision made. Here the individual says I have decided
1:30:26
to go to G. I shall go to G. He
1:30:30
has made up his mind to go to G, but
1:30:32
he has not as yet actually set into operation the
1:30:35
will machinery of action upon that decision. He must also
1:30:39
come to the point in which he can and will
1:30:41
truthfully say, I have now the definite purpose of going
1:30:44
to G. I intend to go there, and I now
1:30:47
begin to exert my power to that end. This last
1:30:50
represents the second phase or stage of determinative will. In
1:30:55
consideration of this particular phase of the activities of the will.
1:30:58
We find present the ti typical examples of the distinction
1:31:01
between the strong, healthy will on the one hand, and
1:31:05
the weak, flabby will on the other hand. The individuals
1:31:09
composing the first class make up their minds firmly and positively,
1:31:13
and then release their impulsive and directive powers toward the
1:31:16
related will action. The individuals composing the second class, on
1:31:21
the contrary, find it most difficult one to make up
1:31:24
their minds, two to keep their minds made up, and
1:31:28
three to exert their impulsive and directive powers into manifestation
1:31:32
and action two hundred seventy six. The decision which terminates
1:31:38
the process of deliberation is distinctly an act of will,
1:31:41
and the sense of voluntary strain and effort is clearly
1:31:44
perceptible in the process. Many find decision to be the
1:31:48
hardest part of the whole voluntary process. Such persons frequently
1:31:53
find it almost impossible to make up their minds to
1:31:56
decide and determine their course of action. They have a
1:31:59
decided tendency to allow others to make up their minds
1:32:02
for them. Another large class is composed of persons who
1:32:05
are in the habit of making up their minds in
1:32:07
a flash, without due deliberation or exercise of judgment. Such
1:32:12
persons frequently find themselves in trouble as the result of
1:32:15
their hasty judgments, and often are required to expend considerable
1:32:19
time and energy in their endeavors to rectify matters or
1:32:22
to escape from the consequences of their ill considered decisions.
1:32:26
The course of the wise person lies in the direction
1:32:29
of escaping these two undesirable extremes and in maintaining the
1:32:32
golden mean between them. Many persons who recognize in themselves
1:32:37
the tendency to waver in making decisions and to escape,
1:32:40
so far as possible, the real act of decision and determination,
1:32:44
have vainly sought the cure for their trouble in the
1:32:46
conventional advice and platitudinous instruction concerning the use of the will.
1:32:50
In such cases, these persons have felt intuitively that there
1:32:54
must be some scientific method based upon sound psychological principles,
1:32:59
which would enable them to overcome their hand decap and
1:33:02
serve to establish a new habit of making decisions and determinations.
1:33:07
Such intuition is well grounded in fact, for such a
1:33:10
method does exist and will accomplish its object in the
1:33:13
following several pages, we shall present it to your attention.
1:33:17
In most cases in which it is found difficult to
1:33:19
arrive at a decision following the process of deliberation, the
1:33:23
trouble will be discovered to lie in the fact that
1:33:25
the emotional intellectual value of the conflicting alternatives are too
1:33:29
nearly alike to admit of an easy decision. When the
1:33:32
full emotional intellectual value of the alternatives is clearly perceived,
1:33:37
then the decision is easy in most cases, for the
1:33:40
weight is clearly on one side. In most cases, the
1:33:43
choice is made almost automatically. It is axiomatic that the
1:33:48
choice between the alternatives is quick and easy in the
1:33:50
direct degree that their respective values are clearly and definitely known.
1:33:55
In some cases, however, even the process of careful deliberation
1:33:59
fails to reveal a preponderance of weight on either side,
1:34:02
and the discovery of new attributes has served merely to
1:34:05
raise both of the alternative courses to a higher plane
1:34:08
of interest, without bestowing upon either a greater proportionate weight.
1:34:12
In such cases, the person is like the donkey who
1:34:15
starved to death because he was unable to decide between
1:34:18
two equally attractive Haystacks. It is clear that if determination
1:34:23
is to be reached in such cases, some new element
1:34:26
must be introduced, the element of fixed standard. This new
1:34:31
element to be introduced into the task of determination is
1:34:34
known as the element of fixed standard, to which we
1:34:37
shall now direct your attention. We ask you to consider
1:34:41
carefully the following method designed to apply the principle of
1:34:44
this added element, for it contains the secret of the
1:34:46
correction of many weaknesses of the will and the key
1:34:49
to the cultivation of prompt, positive and certain decision in determination.
1:34:54
The fundamental and essential principle of the fixed standard is
1:34:57
expressed as follows. You must ast bablish in your mind
1:35:00
a clearly defined, certain and positive fixed standard of will
1:35:04
values based upon an accepted general idea of your sumum
1:35:08
bonum or chief good, with relative degrees of goodness or
1:35:12
badness on the scale of will values, said relative degrees
1:35:16
being determined by the respective nearness or remoteness to the
1:35:19
sumum bonum or chief good. This sumum bonum or chief good,
1:35:24
which constitutes your fixed standard, must be decided upon by yourself.
1:35:28
No one else can do the work for you. It
1:35:31
must represent your sovereign ideal, your highest conception of general
1:35:35
conduct and action by means of which all special conduct
1:35:39
or action is to be measured, weighed, or gauged. The
1:35:43
term standard is defined as that which is established by
1:35:46
authority as a rule for the measure of quantity, quality, extent,
1:35:50
or value, that which is established as a rule or model,
1:35:54
a criterion, a test. In the present case, your fixed
1:35:58
standard is the accepted ties test rule or measure of
1:36:01
will value. Your fixed standard may be modeled upon the
1:36:05
character of some great man whom you wish to adopt
1:36:08
as a model, or perhaps upon a composite character made
1:36:11
up of the approved and esteemed characteristics of a number
1:36:14
of such individuals. Or again, it may be the idea
1:36:18
of some accepted adage, aphorism, or rule of conduct which
1:36:22
seems to embody your ideal of behavior and action, as
1:36:26
for instance, the touchstone of positivity frequently referred to in
1:36:29
our instruction, which is expressed in a test question will
1:36:32
this make me stronger, better, and more efficient? Or again,
1:36:37
it may be some accepted statement of the general principle
1:36:40
of ethical conduct and action, as for instance, the celebrated
1:36:44
categorical imperative of Kant viz. Act only on that maxim
1:36:48
whereby thou canst at the same time, or that it
1:36:51
should become a universal law, or in simpler form, act always,
1:36:54
so that you might wish your action and conduct to
1:36:57
become the standard of the action of and conduct of
1:36:59
all pers. Other aphorisms of this kind are, respectively, the
1:37:04
golden rule do unto others as you would have others
1:37:07
do unto you, or the axiom of Grotius wrong no man,
1:37:11
and render unto every man his due. Or again, you
1:37:15
may adopt as your standard the maxim my every action
1:37:18
must contribute to my ultimate success or the rule that
1:37:22
your every action must be in the direction of the
1:37:24
betterment of the world, or along the lines of some
1:37:26
particular ethical, moral, or religious teachings. We have mentioned the
1:37:31
above examples and illustrations merely to indicate to you the
1:37:34
general principle involved, and not that you must adopt any
1:37:37
one of them. You may have some fixed standard of
1:37:40
your own, which will far better suit your particular purposes.
1:37:43
Our purpose here is merely to have you adopt some
1:37:46
fixed standard, not any particular one. The touchstone of positivity,
1:37:51
so frequently mentioned in this instruction, however, may be adopted
1:37:55
by you as a sound, practical basis of conduct in action.
1:37:59
For rightly interpreted and understood, it represents a very high
1:38:03
ideal of practical philosophy. Its test question, will this make
1:38:08
me stronger, better, and more efficient? Is based upon the
1:38:11
threefold ideal of strength, virtue, and efficiency. Surely not an
1:38:15
unworthy ideal, and not contrary to the categorical imperative or
1:38:19
to the golden rule, For it could not be objected
1:38:22
to as a rule of universal conduct and action, or
1:38:25
of justice to others. We offer it as a suggestion,
1:38:29
but you are free to reject it in favor of
1:38:31
a rule of your own, without impairing in any way
1:38:34
whatever the application of the principle or the method now
1:38:36
to be explained to you. The adoption of your fixed
1:38:40
standard will give you something with which to measure, way,
1:38:43
or value any and all alternatives of action which are
1:38:46
perplexing your determinative will. From it, you will build a
1:38:49
scale or table of will values, a clearly defined and
1:38:53
certain scale with which to measure, weigh, and value the
1:38:56
alternative courses of action which are constantly presenting themselves or
1:39:00
the decision of determinative will. This scale or table of
1:39:04
will values must be established as far as possible before
1:39:07
the time of actual choice or decision. It must cover,
1:39:11
so far as is possible, every probable demand upon you
1:39:14
for decision, particularly the general principle of choice involved in
1:39:18
any special subject likely to come prominently before you. In
1:39:22
other words, you must proceed to conduct your deliberation long
1:39:25
before the time in which your course of action is
1:39:28
likely to arrive, so that when the hour of trial comes,
1:39:31
you will have your basis of decision and determination already
1:39:34
firmly and positively made, and thus be able to announce
1:39:37
it without delay, yet backed by the weight of your
1:39:39
previous careful consideration. In this way you really map out
1:39:44
or chart and advance the course over which your will
1:39:46
shall proceed on its future journeys, and thus escape the
1:39:49
danger of the rocks and reefs which wreck the craft
1:39:52
of the mariner. Lacking such chart in your table of
1:39:55
will values, you must have numerous degrees or grades of values.
1:40:00
At the head of your list must appear your top values,
1:40:03
certain principles of action of surpassing value to you, and
1:40:06
which must always be dominant. These top values must represent
1:40:11
conduct and action operating to secure results and consequences strongly
1:40:15
in line with your fixed standard. Thus If you have
1:40:19
adopted the touchstone of positivity, your top values will represent
1:40:23
actions and conduct which clearly and positively tend to make
1:40:26
you stronger, better, and more efficient. Your top values, whatever
1:40:31
they may represent, must never be sacrificed, no matter what
1:40:35
may be the temptation. Any course of action which contradicts
1:40:38
or negates your top values must be rejected at once.
1:40:43
Your top values must have an almost religious significance. You
1:40:47
must be so inspired by them that a suggestion of
1:40:49
their violation will cause you to become horrified and indignant.
1:40:53
These top values must be regarded as something sacred and
1:40:57
to be treated with reverence. At the other extreme of
1:41:01
the scale, there must be bottom values, i e. Certain
1:41:04
courses of action which must be viewed with loathing and disgust,
1:41:08
and which, under no circumstances whatsoever, must be followed by you.
1:41:13
You must firmly establish these bottom values and must keep
1:41:16
away from the courses of action and conduct represented by them.
1:41:20
There must be no flirting with them, no compromise with them.
1:41:24
They must be regarded always as essentially evil and opposed
1:41:27
to your real well being and to your permanent happiness, satisfaction,
1:41:31
and content. These bottom values must be to you what
1:41:35
the devil was to the old time Orthodox Church people.
1:41:39
There must be no compromise with Satan. You must always
1:41:42
assume the attitude of get thee behind me Satan to
1:41:45
these bottom values. In case your fixed standard is the
1:41:49
touchstone of positivity, then your bottom values will represent those
1:41:53
courses of action and conduct which unquestionably will tend to
1:41:56
make you weaker, worse, and less efficient. Dot Between these
1:42:01
ever to be sought top values and the ever to
1:42:04
be avoided bottom values, there will be a wide range
1:42:07
of middle values or neutral values, arranged in their respective places,
1:42:11
according to their respective degrees of likeness and unlikeness, nearness
1:42:15
and remoteness to the values situated at the two respective
1:42:19
poles of the scale. Your judgment will dictate the proper
1:42:23
place on the scale for each and every kind of value,
1:42:26
and you will find it a very interesting task to
1:42:28
place and arrange these possible courses of conduct and action
1:42:31
upon your scale. You will do well to use pencil
1:42:35
and paper here and actually to construct a black and
1:42:38
white scale or diagram of this kind. The main fact
1:42:42
to be remembered, the one vital fact upon which the
1:42:45
value of the whole system depends, is that the arrangement
1:42:48
must be committed to memory, so that it may be
1:42:50
recalled easily at any time. Each grade class or subclass
1:42:55
on the scale must have its own definite and particular place,
1:42:58
so that it may always be found when looked for,
1:43:01
And each class must be definitely set off and apart
1:43:04
from the one above it and the one below it
1:43:05
on the scale. The more definite and positive your classification,
1:43:10
the greater the degree of effective availability has your scale.
1:43:14
The ideal scale is that one by which you may
1:43:16
immediately determine which of any two alternative courses of action
1:43:20
possesses the greater will value for you. The nearer to
1:43:23
this ideal you can come, the more effective will become
1:43:26
your table of will values. A little active use of
1:43:30
your imagination at this point will convince you of the
1:43:32
wonderful service that a table of this kind will render
1:43:35
to you. Think of being able to have a table
1:43:38
of will values as all inclusive and as infallible as
1:43:41
is the multiplication table. You will find that it is
1:43:44
as great an improvement upon the ordinary hit or mismethod
1:43:47
as the use of the multiplication table is an improvement
1:43:50
upon counting off on your fingers. If you have gone
1:43:54
properly about the work of building your table of will values,
1:43:57
you will find that in the end, your top value
1:44:00
will represent a your strongest feelings, emotions, affections, and desires
1:44:05
be subjected to the careful scrutiny, analysis, synthesis, and final
1:44:10
judgment of your reasoning, faculties, and c tested by your
1:44:14
highest ethical or moral principles and standards. In establishing your
1:44:19
table of will values, your physical, mental, moral, and spiritual
1:44:23
natures have participated. It represents the essence of your whole
1:44:26
nature and character. When you find yourself confronted with two
1:44:30
or more perplexing alternatives calling for decision and determination, you
1:44:34
have but to apply to each of the alternative courses.
1:44:37
The following test questions, what place on my table of
1:44:40
will values has this proposed course? How closely does it resemble,
1:44:45
harmonize with, and conform to my top values? How far
1:44:49
is it away from my bottom values? The answer will
1:44:52
give the proper value to you of each of the
1:44:55
two alternatives immediately and directly. Your decision and determination will
1:44:59
speed follow. Moreover, by this method, the will is trained
1:45:04
into the habit of decision and determination along the lines
1:45:07
of the highest will values. However, you must remember that
1:45:11
your table of will values may be added to, improved, modified,
1:45:15
and subjected to the process of evolutionary development as your
1:45:18
experience broadens and widens your intellectual, emotional, and moral horizon.
1:45:23
The table of will values of the youth, while properly
1:45:26
to be employed by him at the time, cannot properly
1:45:29
be held to govern the man of matured experience. As
1:45:33
with everything else in nature, the law of evolution should
1:45:36
govern this table of will values. The system is no rigid,
1:45:40
inflexible code, which, when once formed and adopted, can never
1:45:44
afterward be improved and enlarged. On the contrary, the intelligent
1:45:49
progressive man will see to it that his table of
1:45:51
will values keeps pace with his ever advancing knowledge and experience.
1:45:56
But here he should note two very important points of
1:45:59
advice and caution concerning proper changes in your table of
1:46:03
will values. Viz. One, never change or modify your scale
1:46:07
of will values when under the influence of temptation, or
1:46:10
upon the suggestion of others interested in your decision, or
1:46:13
when under the fire of opposition. Two, While your scale
1:46:16
of will values remains unmodified and unimpaired concerning any decision
1:46:21
or choice of a course of action. You should live
1:46:23
up to it implicitly and positively. It must be strictly
1:46:27
adhered to until modified in the proper manner and under
1:46:30
the proper circumstances i e. Free from outside urge or temptation, suggestion,
1:46:37
or opposition. The following additional advice concerning these points, doubtless
1:46:42
will be of assistance to you one. As we have
1:46:45
said above, your table of will values should never be
1:46:48
changed or modified while you are under fire, either of temptation,
1:46:52
direct opposition, or the suggestions of others. All your changes, modifications,
1:46:58
and evolutionary development in your table of will values should
1:47:01
be made by you when you are apart from and
1:47:03
free from the direct influences just referred to this, because
1:47:07
when under the direct influence of these psychological forces, your
1:47:10
judgment is not always perfectly clear, and your emotional nature
1:47:14
often is agitated. Here is the rule. The changes and modifications,
1:47:19
those amendments to your constitution of will should be made
1:47:23
only under the same or similar circumstances and with the
1:47:27
same care, consideration, deliberation, and subjection to tests which were
1:47:31
involved when you made the decisions leading to the original
1:47:34
formation of your table of will values. Your constitution of will.
1:47:37
By observing this rule, you will keep your feet on
1:47:40
solid rock and will escape many dangers and unpleasant experiences.
1:47:45
Two Again, we have told you that you should stand
1:47:48
by and live up to your existing table of Will
1:47:50
values at all times. So long as your scale remains
1:47:54
unmodified and unimpaired concerning any particular course of action, you
1:47:58
should regard it as apps absolutely binding upon your will
1:48:01
and judgment at that time. Any other course would lead
1:48:05
you into that state of instability and uncertainty, of indecision
1:48:09
and lack of determination, which is the mark of the
1:48:11
weak and flabby will. Your Table of Will values represents
1:48:15
the best that is in you, the best in the
1:48:17
whole of your nature, at any given time, and consequently,
1:48:21
in the long run it will be found to be
1:48:23
by far the safest and the sanest guide to your
1:48:25
actions and decisions. It represents you yourself in your state
1:48:30
of calm and careful knowledge and decision, as contrasted with
1:48:34
you yourself under the disturbing influences which shake your judgment
1:48:38
and disturb the waters of your emotions. It represents the
1:48:42
judgment of Philip sober, as contrasted with that of Philip drunk,
1:48:46
note this distinction. However, though the stubborn, bigoted man stands
1:48:51
by his table of will values, he does not let
1:48:53
the law of evolution play upon the same. He admits
1:48:56
no new ideas, no new viewpoints, no new thing arising
1:49:00
from changed circumstances. The man of true firmness and stability
1:49:05
of will, however, while likewise standing firmly by his table
1:49:09
of will values, nevertheless always is willing and anxious to
1:49:12
keep up with the times in his table of values,
1:49:15
and he is always working to improve its quality under
1:49:18
the proper conditions. While both men stand by their table
1:49:22
of will values as they exist at the time, on
1:49:24
all occasions there is a difference as wide as the
1:49:27
distance between the polls manifested in their respective methods. In
1:49:32
one case, the code is petrified and rigid, while in
1:49:35
the other it is flexible, alive, and subject to improvement
1:49:38
under the proper conditions. The man who really is firm
1:49:42
is fixed in purpose, but he is willing to change
1:49:45
his position when his purpose is thereby served. The stubborn man, however,
1:49:50
is fixed only in position. He sticks to his position
1:49:54
even if his purpose is imperiled and destroyed. Thereby, note
1:49:58
the distinction the the above stated two cautionary rules will
1:50:02
be found to work out well in practice in the
1:50:05
long run, the few exceptions or apparent exceptions serving principally
1:50:10
to emphasize the general rule. There are but very few
1:50:14
cases in which these rules will not prove to be
1:50:16
the formulae of the wisest and sanest action and conduct.
1:50:20
If you have exercised do care in building up your
1:50:23
table of will values, the exceptions to these rules will
1:50:26
prove to be remarkably small, so small in fact, that
1:50:30
they may be said not to count in the sum
1:50:32
total of your experiences. This system based upon the table
1:50:36
of will values is not nearly so arbitrary as it
1:50:39
may seem at first glance. Inasmuch as your table of
1:50:42
will values has been built carefully, and as carefully passed
1:50:46
upon in final decision, it represents the best in your
1:50:48
emotional being, your intellectual being, your moral being. This being so,
1:50:54
it follows that in living up to these highest reports
1:50:56
of your whole being, and in avoiding that which is
1:50:59
reported by your whole being is being low and unworthy,
1:51:02
you are living up to that which is of the greatest,
1:51:04
real and permanent value to you. You are being true
1:51:06
to yourself and according to good authority. In doing this,
1:51:10
you are also being true to all other men, establishing
1:51:14
a conscience of will values. If you proceed with proper,
1:51:17
earnestness and determination in the work of building up and
1:51:20
establishing your table of will values based upon your chosen
1:51:23
fixed standard, and then proceed to apply the standards of
1:51:26
that table honestly and conscientiously, then before long you will
1:51:30
find that you have established what may be called a
1:51:32
conscience of will values in your subconscious mental being. This
1:51:36
new conscience will grow strong and will soon manifest itself
1:51:40
as strenuously and as efficiently as does the more familiar,
1:51:43
ordinary moral conscience with which all of us are more
1:51:46
or less familiar. The newly awakened conscience of will values
1:51:50
existing in the subconscious regions of your being will sound
1:51:53
the alarm bell when you are in danger of violating
1:51:55
the principles of your fixed standard and of failing to
1:51:58
observe your top values. It will render you uncomfortable when
1:52:02
you are not living up to the requirements of your standards.
1:52:05
It will impart the feeling of a warm glow of
1:52:07
satisfaction when you comply with the principle The man in
1:52:11
whom this conscience of will values has been awakened is blessed.
1:52:15
He will have a something within which will keep his
1:52:17
feet on the right path, and which will warn him
1:52:20
from straying into the bypaths which beset the road of attainment.
1:52:24
And thrice blessed is he who, having this conscience acquires
1:52:28
the habit of steadfastly heeding its warnings and obeying its orders.
1:52:32
This section of this book should be studied in connection
1:52:35
with the one immediately preceding it and the one immediately
1:52:38
following it, For the three sections are closely related in
1:52:41
subject matter, and the instruction in each blends very closely
1:52:44
with that in the two others. In the present section
1:52:48
we have considered merely the first phase of the determinative
1:52:51
will i e. The phase of decision or making up
1:52:54
your mind. The consideration of the second phase i e.
1:52:57
The phase of firm resolve or resolution, or absolute direction
1:53:01
to a certain end, will be carried over to the
1:53:03
section immediately following the present one, i e. The section
1:53:07
dealing with voluntary action. The reason for such division of
1:53:11
the subject and such blending of the two phases of
1:53:14
will action will become more apparent to you as we
1:53:17
proceed will power your dynamic forces. By William Walker Atkinson,
1:53:23
nineteen twenty two. Active will, the stage of action, is
1:53:28
the fifth stage of the will process. Here will manifests
1:53:32
involuntary action, i e. The process of acting in moving
1:53:36
by will power. This is the final stage of the
1:53:39
will process, the stage to which all the preceding stages
1:53:43
have been but as preliminaries in voluntary action, the will
1:53:47
manifest its unique character and nature. Toward the end of
1:53:51
voluntary action, all the energies of the will have been directed.
1:53:55
Will power essentially is concerned with action. All human acts
1:54:00
actions are caused by will. Whenever emotion rises to motivity
1:54:04
in action. That motivity and action is will action. Will
1:54:09
is inevitably involved in all doing. The motor element of
1:54:13
ideas is obtained from will. Theoretically, it may be said
1:54:17
that decision and determination complete the process of will, and
1:54:21
indeed the old psychologists so held and taught. But practical experience,
1:54:27
supported by the teaching of the New psychology, insists that
1:54:30
decisions and determinations are of little real value unless they
1:54:34
proceed into action. The old saying that the road to
1:54:38
hell is paved with good intentions might well be altered
1:54:41
in its phrasing so as to read that the pathway
1:54:43
to inferno is paved with non completed good decisions and
1:54:47
aborted resolutions. Many persons are in the habit of thinking
1:54:51
that when they decide and resolve to do a thing,
1:54:54
then the matter is ended and they need do nothing
1:54:56
else in the matter. It is very easy to sit
1:54:59
in a comfort arm chair and resolve that you will
1:55:01
do thus and so in the world of action, but
1:55:04
it is quite difficult to perform even one tenth of
1:55:06
the deeds which you may thus resolve and decide to do.
1:55:09
Though many persons do not seem to perceive the distinction
1:55:12
and difference between the two processes. As William James has
1:55:16
told us, you lie abed on a cold morning and
1:55:19
firmly resolve to get up and begin the work of
1:55:21
the day. You decide that this is the only rational
1:55:24
course to pursue, and you make up your mind to
1:55:27
follow it. But often you do not even stir a
1:55:29
muscle toward that action. In such cases, it is only
1:55:33
when the idea of getting up becomes disturbingly insistent, when
1:55:36
your mental alarm clock rings most annoyingly and persistently, that
1:55:40
you spring out of bed with a final protesting growl
1:55:43
and grumble. The world is filled with persons who are
1:55:47
unable to realize that deciding and resolving to do a
1:55:49
thing is a far different matter from actually doing it.
1:55:53
These persons seldom accomplish any real work of their own volition.
1:55:57
All that they do they are forced to do by
1:55:59
others or by the four circumstances. They are always deciding
1:56:03
to do things, resolving to do things, but they never
1:56:06
actually do things. Their will processes are seldom completed. The
1:56:12
men and women who do the work of the world,
1:56:14
who achieve success, who accomplish their ends and aims, are
1:56:18
those who, having grimly resolved and determined to do a
1:56:21
certain thing, then complete the will process by moving into
1:56:24
action in the direction of doing the thing in question.
1:56:28
But here again we meet with another of those strange
1:56:31
paradoxes with which the science of psychology abounds. We have
1:56:35
just seen that if you expect to accomplish anything in
1:56:38
the world, you must pass beyond the stage of mere decision,
1:56:41
resolution and determination. You must rise to the plane of
1:56:44
voluntary action. But on the other hand, we must now
1:56:48
inform you that if you expect your voluntary action to
1:56:51
amount to anything. To be efficient to accomplish its purpose,
1:56:55
you must carry into your voluntary action a highly developed
1:56:58
form of determination. In fact, when closely analyzed, voluntary action
1:57:04
is seen to be purposeful determination manifesting its dynamic aspect.
1:57:08
The subjective phase of determination is the static aspect of will.
1:57:12
Objective voluntary action is the dynamic aspect of will. The
1:57:16
two are but twin aspects of the same thing. At
1:57:19
the last, this fact being perceived, it follows that your
1:57:23
effective voluntary action always must be preceded by and accompanied
1:57:27
by strong, positive, purposeful determination. Let us here repeat the
1:57:32
definition of this term. The term purpose means the view, aim, design, intention, determination, resolution,
1:57:41
or will to accomplish or reach some particular object, that
1:57:45
which a person sets before himself as the object to
1:57:47
be gained or accomplished. The end or aim which one
1:57:50
has in view in any plan, measure, or exertion, that
1:57:54
which one intends to do, hence his intention, design, plan,
1:57:58
or project. The term determination in this particular usage is
1:58:03
defined as strength or firmness of mind, firm resolve or resolution,
1:58:08
an absolute direction to a certain end. From the foregoing definitions,
1:58:13
you will have no difficulty in forming a dear and
1:58:15
positive concept of purposeful determination. But for the purpose of illustration,
1:58:20
we ask you to consider, ponder over, and memorize the
1:58:23
following quotations from eminent writers. Each of these has been
1:58:27
selected for a special purpose and to awaken and bring
1:58:30
out a certain phase of your will power. They will
1:58:33
help you to fill in the details of your mental
1:58:36
picture or general idea of purposeful determination, that essential spirit
1:58:40
of will. Buxton says, the longer I live, the more
1:58:44
certain I am that the great difference between men, between
1:58:47
the feeble and the powerful, the great and the insignificant,
1:58:51
is invincible determination, a purpose once fixed, and then victory
1:58:55
or death. That quality will do anything that can be
1:58:58
done in this world. And no talents, no circumstances, no opportunities,
1:59:04
will make a two legged creature a man without it.
1:59:07
Mitchell says. Resolve is what makes a man manifest. Not
1:59:11
a puny resolve, not erent purpose, but that strong and
1:59:14
indefatigable will, which treads down difficulties and danger as a
1:59:18
boy treads down the heaving frost lands of winter, which
1:59:21
kindles his eye and brain with a pulse beat toward
1:59:23
the unattainable. Will makes men giants. Disraeli says I have
1:59:29
brought myself, by long meditation, to the conviction that a
1:59:32
human being with a settled purpose must accomplish it, and
1:59:35
that nothing can resist a will which will stake even
1:59:37
existence itself upon its fulfillment. Simpson says, a passionate desire
1:59:43
and an unwearied will can perform impossibilities, or what may
1:59:47
seem to be such to the cold and feeble. Foster says,
1:59:51
it is wonderful to note how even the casualties of
1:59:54
life seem to bow to a spirit that will not
1:59:56
yield to them, and tend to subserve a design which
1:59:59
they may in the apparent tendency threatened to frustrate. When
2:00:03
a firm, decisive spirit is recognized, it is curious to
2:00:07
see how the space clears around a man and leaves
2:00:09
him room and freedom. Emerson says, we go forth austere, dedicated,
2:00:15
believing in iron links of destiny, and will not turn
2:00:18
on our heels to save our lives. A book a bust,
2:00:22
or only the sound of a name shoots a spark
2:00:25
through the nerves, and we suddenly believe in will. We
2:00:28
cannot hear of personal vigor of any kind, great powers
2:00:32
of performances without fresh resolution. This, then, is the spirit
2:00:37
in which you should institute your voluntary actions leading to
2:00:40
the achievement and realization of your prime motives, your top values,
2:00:44
your fixed standard, your sumumbonum, or chief good. You should
2:00:48
approach your task in the spirit of the master formula
2:00:51
of attainment, which is referred to so frequently in our instruction,
2:00:54
and which is as follows. One definite ideals, two insistent desire,
2:01:00
three confident expectation for persistent determination, and five balanced compensation.
2:01:07
We ask you to consider carefully the principles of this
2:01:10
master formula which you are about to employ in your
2:01:13
task of voluntary action leading toward achievement. Consider in detail
2:01:17
its elements as these are presented to you in the
2:01:20
following several pages. Ponder them carefully, commit to memory their
2:01:24
essential points. One definite ideals. Before you may proceed intelligently
2:01:30
to do a thing, to obtain a thing, or to
2:01:33
achieve a thing, it is necessary that you have a
2:01:35
clear and definite idea and ideal of that thing. In
2:01:39
your consideration of purposeful determination. You must not lose sight
2:01:43
of the importance of purpose. While you are developing determination,
2:01:47
determination will lose much of its dynamic force if it
2:01:50
is scattered, or if the purpose directing it lacks definiteness
2:01:54
and clearness. Remember that one of the definitions of determination
2:01:58
is absolute direction to us to a certain end, and
2:02:01
that purpose means the aim, design, intention, resolution, determination, and
2:02:07
will to accomplish or to reach some particular object or end.
2:02:11
Note particularly the reference to a certain end and to
2:02:15
some particular object or end. The words certain and particular
2:02:20
imply definiteness, clearness, preciseness, specificness of meaning, idea and ideals.
2:02:27
They point to the necessity of definite ideals and definite purpose.
2:02:31
If definite direction is lacking in your voluntary action, then
2:02:35
your purposeful determination has lost one of its strong arms.
2:02:39
This first element of the master formula is very important
2:02:42
in the case before us, the case of the manifestation
2:02:45
of voluntary action and purposeful determination. Before you can really
2:02:50
determine to act effectively, you must know the purpose of
2:02:53
your action, the end to be attained or the thing
2:02:56
to be obtained, or the direction in which you wish
2:02:58
to travel. The more definite and positive your purpose and aim,
2:03:03
the greater will be the degree of concentration that you
2:03:05
are able to apply to the task. Here you must
2:03:08
bring to bear your powers of ideation and visualization. You
2:03:13
must learn to map out the land over which you
2:03:15
are to travel, to chart the seas over which you
2:03:17
wish to sail. You must exercise your constructive ability in designing, planning,
2:03:23
mapping out, and making a working diagram of that which
2:03:25
you wish to accomplish. You know the general direction by
2:03:29
reason of your knowledge of your prime motives, top values,
2:03:33
and fixed standard. But probably you have failed to draw
2:03:36
your plan in further detail and to fill in all
2:03:38
of the minor points. You must correct and overcome this deficiency.
2:03:43
If it exists in your case, you may find it
2:03:46
impossible to draw your plans in very close detail. However,
2:03:51
in such case, do the best you can draw the
2:03:53
general outline as clearly as possible, and then fill in
2:03:56
the details from time to time as soon as they
2:03:58
take form in your concer structive imagination. Do the best
2:04:02
you can in the creation of a definite purpose. A
2:04:05
little practice will enlarge your capacity for work of this kind.
2:04:09
You would not expect a builder to erect a house
2:04:11
for you unless he were supplied with a working plan
2:04:14
by the architect. You would not expect a railroad contractor
2:04:17
to build a line or road for you, unless he
2:04:19
were furnished with the plans of the engineer for such construction. Therefore,
2:04:24
you must know positively, clearly and definitely what you wish
2:04:28
to accomplish, the ends and aims to be attained, the
2:04:31
direction of your efforts, the particular purpose you wish to
2:04:34
work out into achievement, before you can expect to apply
2:04:37
effectively your persistent determination. It is not scientific for you
2:04:41
to sing, I don't know where I'm going, but I'm
2:04:44
on the way. You must know where you're going, and
2:04:48
not only that, you must also know for just what
2:04:50
purpose you are going there and what you are likely
2:04:53
to meet with on the road. You must take a
2:04:55
lesson from the old story of the architect on the
2:04:58
witness stand. He stated that one one of his profession
2:05:01
was required to plan every building. The opposing lawyer sneeringly
2:05:05
asked him, pray tell us, then, who was the architect
2:05:08
of the Tower of Babel. The architect promptly answered, there
2:05:13
was none, sir, Hence the confusion and failure. By reference
2:05:17
to the quotations on a preceding page, you will see
2:05:20
that the quoted writers have laid special emphasis upon the
2:05:23
purpose well fixed the settled purpose the design. Disraeli's statement
2:05:28
that the human being with a settled purpose must accomplish
2:05:31
it gives us the keynote. The purpose must not only
2:05:35
be clear and definite, but it also must be a
2:05:37
fixed and settled purpose, a purpose adhered to with dogged
2:05:41
persistency and determined steadfastness. The more clearly you can see
2:05:46
just what you want to do, the better able will
2:05:48
you be to do it, and the more determined you
2:05:50
will be to materialize that idealized and visualized purpose. You
2:05:55
must not only want a hard enough, but you must
2:05:58
also know just what you want to know it clearly
2:06:01
enough and definitely enough. Possessing and manifesting these powers of
2:06:06
your mental and emotional being, you are prepared to apply
2:06:09
and to exercise your purposeful determination to its utmost capacity
2:06:12
and with its full powers. Having discovered your purpose in life,
2:06:17
you must proceed to manifest it in voluntary action and
2:06:20
to materialize it. The more definite and clear the mental picture,
2:06:24
the more definite and positive will be the materialization. Two
2:06:28
insistent desire. You have become acquainted with the facts concerning
2:06:33
the power of desire. You have seen that all will
2:06:36
power is set into operation by desire, and that the
2:06:39
degree of manifested will power is directly proportionate to the
2:06:43
degree of the desire back of and under it. This
2:06:46
being so, you need no further argument concerning the necessity
2:06:50
of manifesting strong, positive desire. When you wish to accomplish anything,
2:06:55
you realize that the flame of desire is needed to
2:06:58
generate the stem of voluntary action toward the attainment of
2:07:02
the objects or circumstances represented by your top values or
2:07:06
prime motives, or the manifestation of your fixed standard. You
2:07:09
should ever seek to manifest that insistent, imperious, dominant feeling
2:07:14
in desire which will not be denied. This mental state
2:07:17
we have repeatedly illustrated by the example of the drowning
2:07:20
or suffocating man demanding air, the starving man demanding food,
2:07:24
the shipwrecked or desert lost man demanding water, the wild
2:07:28
creature demanding its mate, the mother creature demanding the safety
2:07:32
and welfare of its young. This is the spirit of
2:07:35
insistent desire in which you should approach your task of
2:07:38
voluntary action toward the attainment of your prime motives and
2:07:41
top values. Three. Confident expectation the mental state represented by
2:07:47
the term confident expectation is one of positive value to you.
2:07:52
Its opposite, i e. The mental state of fearful doubt
2:07:55
is most harmful to you. Confident expectation tends to release
2:07:59
an too activity all the powers of your mental being,
2:08:02
and to fill them with that eagerness for accomplishment, which
2:08:05
is based upon confidence and belief in the final successful outcome.
2:08:09
Fear and doubt tend to paralyze the will, while faith
2:08:13
and hope tend to energize and inspire it. We need
2:08:16
not here go into the psychology of this fact. Sufficient
2:08:20
for the present purpose is the statement of the fact
2:08:22
itself and the reference to common experience to illustrate its operations.
2:08:27
If you will consider the cases of the men and
2:08:29
women who have accomplished great things in the world along
2:08:32
any of the many lines of human endeavor, you will
2:08:35
see that in every case such individuals have been inspired
2:08:38
by the belief in their ultimate success. They have confidently
2:08:41
expected a successful outcome. Had they believed otherwise, they would
2:08:46
not have had the courage and perseverance which have enabled
2:08:48
them to overcome the obstacles in their path and to
2:08:51
mount to success upon the stepping stones of their own
2:08:54
apparent failures. It is confident expectation, that combination of faith
2:08:59
and hope which enables one to act upon the adage
2:09:02
when you feel that you must let go, then hang
2:09:05
on the harder, for victory is near. When we realize
2:09:08
the effect of confident expectation upon the will activities, we
2:09:12
are almost impelled to agree fully with Tanner in his
2:09:15
celebrated statement that to believe firmly is almost tantamount to accomplishment.
2:09:20
But whether or not this principle may be carried that far,
2:09:23
it is unquestionable that confident expectation is a most powerful
2:09:27
and mighty element in successful and effective voluntary action. In
2:09:32
this instruction, we have urged the adoption of the slogan
2:09:35
I can, I will, I dare I do. The I
2:09:39
can is based upon confident expectation that I dare springs
2:09:43
from the same inner conviction of ultimate success. In fact,
2:09:48
the spirit of confident expectation breathes through and pervades the
2:09:51
whole of the slogan and all the processes of the
2:09:54
awakened will for persistent determination. Here we approach the characteristic
2:10:00
element of purposeful determination. The very word determination carries with
2:10:06
it the idea and thought of persistency. There is present
2:10:09
the idea of persistency. In all applications of the I
2:10:13
can I will, I dare I do slogan or maxim
2:10:17
there must always be present not only the determination to
2:10:20
do the thing, but also the persistent application of the
2:10:23
will to the task. Determination without persistency would be like
2:10:28
the play of Hamlet with the character of Hamlet omitted.
2:10:31
In fact, it is difficult to form a concept of
2:10:34
practical will power unless we include in the concept the
2:10:37
element of active persistency. The persistent will is the effective will,
2:10:42
the real will inaction. Whatever else we may conceive effective
2:10:46
will to be, we must always conceive it as being persistent.
2:10:51
In persistent determination, you manifest will power not only in
2:10:54
voluntary action, but also in the task of studying in
2:10:57
holding to its work, the dynamic power of will. When
2:11:01
you have gained complete control of your aroused will power,
2:11:04
you must apply to its activities the quality of persistence.
2:11:08
This quality you must manifest in steadfastness, firmness, fixed intention,
2:11:13
positive direction, and unfailing constancy in continuing the course chosen.
2:11:18
You must manifest it by steadfastly pursuing the work undertaken,
2:11:22
and in holding fast to the general plan designed to
2:11:25
govern that work, you must manifest it in perseverance in
2:11:29
spite of obstacles and discouragements, and in steadfastness in face
2:11:33
of opposition and hindrances. The characteristics of persistent determination are stability, perseverance,
2:11:40
fixedness of purpose, tenacity, doggedness, and persistent application. Persistent determination
2:11:47
enables you to hold your will close to its task,
2:11:49
to hold it there firmly and continuously until success is
2:11:53
attained and the victory is one. Success in many instances
2:11:57
depends upon the application of persistent determination, the manifestation of
2:12:01
the power and determination to hold on to the last
2:12:05
many A man possessing the other qualities of well power
2:12:07
has fought a brave fight, but just before the tide
2:12:10
turn in his favor, he has relinquished his efforts and
2:12:13
has dropped out of the fight, defeated not by circumstances
2:12:16
but by his own lack of persistent determination. By studying
2:12:20
the lives of the great inventors Morse and Edison, for instance,
2:12:24
you will see the utmost importance of this faculty of
2:12:26
holding on and this spirit of never say die. Five
2:12:31
balanced compensation. This element of the master formula finds its
2:12:36
familiar expression in the phrase paying the price. In all attainment,
2:12:41
the price must be paid. Compensation is a law of
2:12:45
nature and manifests its force on all planes of existence
2:12:49
and in all forms of activity. One who seeks to
2:12:52
attain anything must be prepared to pay the price. The
2:12:56
price may consist of work performed, of perseverance persist in application, industry,
2:13:02
and diligence, or service rendered to others with whom one
2:13:05
has business, or similar relations of ability and willingness to
2:13:09
give value received for what he obtains for himself. Of
2:13:12
the sacrifice and renunciation of ideas, ideals, feelings, desires, aims,
2:13:18
and ambitions which are opposed to the subject or object
2:13:21
represented by the prime motives and top values, one must
2:13:26
be willing to sacrifice the lesser values for the greater ones.
2:13:30
All men who achieve and attain anything worth while have
2:13:33
paid the price. In all of the various forms just mentioned,
2:13:37
Compensation is a necessity of attainment. There is always a
2:13:41
balance struck between what one gets and what he gives
2:13:44
or gives up. He who seeks to escape paying the
2:13:48
price is defying a great law of nature and of life.
2:13:52
It is as if in the cosmos there were maintained
2:13:54
a great ledger, in which there is both a credit
2:13:57
and a debit column on each page. The law is
2:14:01
continually striking balances, trial balances, and final settlements. The wise
2:14:07
realize this and profit by their knowledge. The fools ignore
2:14:11
it and are the losers by reason of their folly.
2:14:14
Say the Gods to men, what do you want? Take
2:14:17
it and pay for it? The spirit of the active will.
2:14:22
The following quotations from eminent writers will serve to illustrate
2:14:26
the spirit of the active will, particularly in its phase
2:14:29
of purposeful determination. You should consider each of the quotations carefully,
2:14:34
ponder them earnestly, and commit them to memory. Each one
2:14:38
of them has been selected for the purpose of bringing
2:14:40
out some particular point or principle, and each and all
2:14:44
of them are designed to serve as an inspirational maxim
2:14:47
for you in moments of trial, temptation, doubt, or discouragement.
2:14:51
They are veritable potions of wiltonic We defy you to
2:14:55
repeat them earnestly without feeling the vibrations and thrill of
2:14:58
will stirring your soul, and a way taking the spirit
2:15:00
of I can, I will, I dare I do? Kennon says,
2:15:06
in this world the human spirit, with its dominating force.
2:15:09
The will may be and ought to be superior to
2:15:12
all bodily sensations and all accidents of environment. Harriet Beecher
2:15:17
Stove says, when you get into a tight place and
2:15:19
everything goes against you until it seems that you cannot
2:15:22
hold on for a minute longer, never give up, then,
2:15:25
for that is just the place and time that the
2:15:27
tide will turn. Day Loombert says, go on, sir, go on.
2:15:32
The difficulties you meet with will resolve themselves as you advance. Proceed,
2:15:38
and the light will dawn and shine with increasing clearness
2:15:41
on your path. Henry Ward Beecher says, it is defeat
2:15:45
that turns bone to flint and gristle to muscle, and
2:15:48
makes men invincible and form those heroic natures that are
2:15:51
now in ascendency in the world. Do not be afraid
2:15:55
of defeat. You are never so near victory as when
2:15:59
defeated in a good Kohler says, it is astonishing how
2:16:03
many men lack the power of holding on until they
2:16:06
reach the goal. They can make a sudden dash, but
2:16:09
they lack grit. They are easily discouraged. They get on
2:16:14
as long as everything moves smoothly, but when there is
2:16:17
friction they lose heart. They depend upon stronger personalities for
2:16:21
their spirit and strength. They lack independence or originality. They
2:16:27
only dare to do what others do. They do not
2:16:30
step boldly from the crowd and act fearlessly. Emerson says,
2:16:35
I know no such unquestionable badge and ensign of a
2:16:38
sovereign mind as that of tenacity of purpose, which, through
2:16:42
all changes of companions, or parties or fortunes changes, never
2:16:46
bates no jot of heart or hope, but wearies out
2:16:49
opposition and arrives at its port. John Hunter says, is
2:16:53
there one whom difficulties dishearten who bends to the storm,
2:16:57
he will do little? Is there one who wills to conquer?
2:17:01
That kind of man never fails. Napoleon Bonaparte said, the
2:17:06
truest wisdom is a resolute determination. Munger says, a strong,
2:17:11
defiant purpose is many handed and lays hold on whatever
2:17:15
is near that can serve it. It has a magnetic
2:17:17
power that draws to itself whatever is kindred word, says
2:17:22
the man who is perpetually hesitating which of two things
2:17:25
he will do first, will do neither The man who resolves,
2:17:29
but suffers his resolution to be changed by the first
2:17:32
counter suggestion of a friend who fluctuates from opinion to opinion,
2:17:36
from plan to plan, and veers like a weathercock to
2:17:39
every point of the compass, with every breath of caprice
2:17:42
that blows, can never accomplish anything real or useful. It
2:17:46
is only the man who first consults well, then resolves firmly,
2:17:50
and then executes his purposes with inflexible perseverance, undismayed by
2:17:54
those petty difficulties which dant a weaker spirit, that man
2:17:58
can advance to eminence in any Fathergill says will power
2:18:03
is one of the greatest natural endowments, as it is
2:18:06
one of the finest outcomes of self culture. The man
2:18:09
who succeeds in climbing step by step finds his will
2:18:13
power of expanding with his energies with the demands upon him.
2:18:18
Strength of will is gameness, the power to stay. Englishmen
2:18:22
have always prided themselves upon their game qualities, whether the
2:18:26
tenacity of their bulldogs, the endurance of their race horses,
2:18:29
the unflinching courage of their game fowls, or their own
2:18:32
indomitable purpose. Where there is a will, there's a way.
2:18:37
The way may be long, hidden from sight, hard to find,
2:18:40
long and wearisome seemingly endless, But on it the traveler
2:18:44
goes with unshaken resolution to success at last in purposeful
2:18:49
determination and voluntary action. Thereupon, theo will deliberately chooses an
2:18:53
end or object to be attained, and then proceeds to
2:18:56
manifest the determination in outward form and action. It proceeds
2:19:01
to its end with intensity of purpose and directness of aim.
2:19:05
The end must be clear, definite, and capable of distinct visualization.
2:19:10
The effort to gain that end must call into operation
2:19:13
the whole nature of the will and the whole force
2:19:15
and energy of the will power. As it has well
2:19:18
been said, the whole living strength of the will must
2:19:21
be literally hurled into it, not once or twice, but
2:19:24
again and again until it is accomplished. The purposeful determination
2:19:30
must be real. It must be meant by you with
2:19:32
the full power of your soul. You must not trifle
2:19:35
with such resolutions. You must be in deadly earnest about them.
2:19:40
Remember that the honor and integrity of your will is
2:19:42
at stake, and that you must not bring discredit upon it.
2:19:46
To break such a resolution is to bring shame upon
2:19:49
yourself and to your will. You will do well to
2:19:52
remember and to follow the advice given by a religious
2:19:55
writer upon the subject who bids his pupils to proceed
2:19:58
to will, by first making the following st statement, Yes,
2:20:02
before God, I mean that. I mean it as intensely
2:20:06
and really as I can ever mean anything. I will
2:20:10
keep that resolution. I know that I can and will
2:20:13
keep it because I mean it. Further, I will take
2:20:17
every precaution to keep it alive and vigorous within me
2:20:19
by remaking it again and again. This is the essence
2:20:23
and spirit of purposeful determination. Strive ever to attain, sustain,
2:20:29
and manifest it. This is the flash of the will
2:20:32
that can will power your dynamic forces. By William Walker Atkinson,
2:20:39
nineteen twenty two. Will training. It is not enough that
2:20:44
you should develop strong will power. Important though such development
2:20:47
may be, it is not enough that the driver should
2:20:50
secure the services of a strong pair of horses to
2:20:53
pull his chariot. He must also be able to guide
2:20:56
and control, direct, and master them. So, though you may
2:21:00
be possessed of the strongest will, you will be unable
2:21:03
to direct efficiently its energies and powers, unless by careful
2:21:07
scientific training and discipline, you have mastered its mechanism. To
2:21:11
train your will, you must teach it and cultivate it.
2:21:14
You must educate it, exercise it, discipline it so as
2:21:17
to impart to it the habit and tendency to move
2:21:20
along the lines which your reason indicates to be the
2:21:22
most advantageous and efficient. All scientific training of the will
2:21:27
begins with instruction concerning the formation of advantageous habits, the
2:21:31
building of clean and clear paths over which the will
2:21:34
may travel in action toward achievement. By establishing the proper
2:21:38
habits of will action, you will render your will far
2:21:40
more efficient, and at the same time will accomplish the
2:21:43
maximum of desirable results with the minimum expenditure of energy.
2:21:48
Here we meet with another of those interesting paradoxes which,
2:21:51
as we have said, abound in the realm of psychology.
2:21:55
The paradox is a while the will moves most easily
2:21:59
and with the least friction over the paths of habit,
2:22:01
yet be habit itself is originally formed by the exercise
2:22:05
of the will. The will lends itself most readily to
2:22:09
habit and prefers to travel over the lines of least resistance.
2:22:12
In habit motivity yet when set to the task, theo
2:22:16
will builds the lines and paths of advantageous and desirable
2:22:19
habits over which it will travel in the future. It
2:22:22
acts as does the strong and powerful stream of water,
2:22:25
which first cuts for itself a deep channel in the earth,
2:22:28
and afterwards travels through that channel as if bound and
2:22:31
restricted by it. Both the stream and the will are
2:22:35
bound and restricted by their self built channels, but each
2:22:38
creates for itself its future restricting in directing walls. Habit
2:22:43
has its correspondence in material objects. In fact, all things
2:22:47
seem to come under the rule of habit in some form.
2:22:50
A piece of paper or a pattern of cloth will
2:22:53
tend to fold more easily along the lines of the
2:22:55
crease made by the first folding. The more often the
2:22:58
fold is made, the easy becomes. Each subsequent folding along
2:23:02
the same lines. Water finds it easier to travel over
2:23:05
the path traversed by the preceding streams of water. The
2:23:09
rain drop on the window pane follows the same law.
2:23:12
Any voluntary action performs several times in the same general
2:23:16
way tends to develop into a motion habit, and indeed,
2:23:20
after a time the motion becomes almost instinctive and is
2:23:23
performed by the subconscious mentality to which it has been
2:23:26
passed on for attention and direction. Each in every time
2:23:30
you dress yourself or put on your shoes, you perform
2:23:33
a number of habitual actions of which you are scarcely conscious.
2:23:37
This is also true of your actions of walking, using
2:23:40
your knife and fork, and other familiar performances which have
2:23:43
become habitual to you. The value of habit in the
2:23:47
training and education of the will is very great. Not
2:23:51
only does habit one simplify the process of any given
2:23:55
form of action and to lessen the degree of voluntary
2:23:58
attention required for the performants of any given action, but
2:24:01
it also three gives greatly increased weight and power to
2:24:05
the emotional impulse toward any given action, thus increasing its
2:24:09
emotional value and thereby enabling it to resist more effectively
2:24:12
the demands and urging of an opposing set of emotional
2:24:15
impulses and desires. When you have made a habit of
2:24:19
efficient and advantageous will action, you will have progressed far
2:24:23
on the road to the attainment of strong and efficient
2:24:26
will power. Rules for establishing habits of will. The following
2:24:31
rules will be found most useful and effective in your
2:24:34
task of establishing the proper habits of will. In applying them,
2:24:38
you must employ your table of will values in your
2:24:40
fixed standard to determine which particular habits you shall strive
2:24:43
to develop, cultivate, and acquire. When in the following rules
2:24:47
you come across the words the habit or the habits,
2:24:51
you will understand that such terms apply to those habits
2:24:54
which express the desires tested by reason, which stand well
2:24:57
to the top of your table of will values, or
2:25:00
else to minor courses of will action which serve to
2:25:02
further the interests of these high values. Here follow the
2:25:06
rules I employ a strong initiative in launching a new habit.
2:25:13
Employ a strong initiative, put as much determination and motor
2:25:17
energy as possible into the particular course of action at
2:25:20
the start. Launch the ship of habit as far as
2:25:24
possible into the stream of action, employing the full strength
2:25:27
of the determination and will force at your command. This
2:25:31
will impart to the new habit sufficient momentum to carry
2:25:34
it well past the first dangerous places, and to give
2:25:37
you a good running start. Your principal danger of yielding
2:25:40
to temptation will come at the start. But if your
2:25:43
momentum is sufficient to carry you past these earlier temptations,
2:25:46
you will be able more easily to resist the later ones.
2:25:49
The longer you manage to postpone the time of the
2:25:51
first temptations, the less power will those temptations have over you. Therefore,
2:25:57
always remember try to get a good running start. Two
2:26:01
exercise care at the beginning. The beginning of the formation
2:26:05
of the new habit is the most critical time of
2:26:07
the entire task. This because the power of the opposing
2:26:11
habit has not as yet begun to fade by reason
2:26:14
of the manifestation of the opposite i e. The new habit.
2:26:18
The rule is never allow even a single exception or
2:26:22
failure to occur until the new habit has become well established.
2:26:26
Until the new habit has become well rooted, you must
2:26:29
brave it with all your power against the stormy winds
2:26:32
of temptation and opposition. It has well been said that
2:26:35
failure or yielding to temptation at this early stage is
2:26:39
like letting fall the ball of string which you have
2:26:41
been carefully winding. The single slip undoes more than many
2:26:44
turns of the hand will be able to rewind. The
2:26:47
psychology of the case is this The two opposing impulses
2:26:51
must be handled so that the advantageous one may have
2:26:53
an uninterrupted series of successes and the disadvantageous one a
2:26:57
continuous series of failures. The result of this preliminary series
2:27:02
of conflicts plays a very important part in the determination
2:27:05
of the future relation of the two opposing forces. Here
2:27:08
is found to apply the rule of to him who
2:27:10
hath shall be given and to him who hath not
2:27:12
shall be taken away, even at which he hath the
2:27:16
habit of victory. Once acquired by the advantageous impulse, it
2:27:19
will thereafter possess an immense psychological advantage over its repeatedly
2:27:23
defeated opponent. The man who determines to establish a certain
2:27:27
advantageous habit will surely fail if he follows rip van
2:27:31
Winkle's plan of saying that this one doesn't count. Whenever
2:27:34
temptation to violate the rule presents itself. The taking of
2:27:38
just one cigar when you have decided to stop smoking,
2:27:42
or the taking of just one little extra snooze when
2:27:45
you have decided to establish the habit of rising at
2:27:47
a certain hour, may prove to be the undoing of
2:27:50
the entire purposeful determination. On the other hand, each time
2:27:54
one of those early just one more indulgences is resisted
2:27:58
and defeated, The purposeful determine becomes stronger, often to a
2:28:02
degree out of all proportion to the apparent present actual
2:28:05
value of the accomplishment. Three repeated performance. In establishing a habit,
2:28:11
you should repeat the performance of the associated action as
2:28:14
frequently as possible. You will, by that means, make clearer
2:28:18
and wider the mental path over which you wish your
2:28:21
will to travel habitually. Moreover, as a consequence, you will
2:28:25
exercise the particular faculty which you wish to make strong
2:28:29
and to develop inefficiency. The will is strengthened not by
2:28:33
the mere mental determination to perform an action, but rather
2:28:36
by the actual performance of the action itself. The path
2:28:40
of motivity is created only by actually traveling over it,
2:28:44
and the oftener it is traveled over, the easier, becomes
2:28:47
the future journey over it. The actual motor effect of
2:28:50
will action gives the set to the brain cells and
2:28:53
areas involved in any particular course of action. The actual
2:28:57
effort forces you to dig your heels in the ground
2:29:00
and to exert your energy. As it has well been said,
2:29:04
he who has no solid ground to press against will
2:29:06
never get beyond the stage of gesture making. Therefore, seek
2:29:10
every possible opportunity for such action until the habit becomes
2:29:14
firmly established. A lock works better after it has been
2:29:18
used several times. A garment clings better to the body
2:29:21
after it has been worn a few times. The cloth
2:29:24
folds more easily in the crease after it has been
2:29:26
folded a few times. And, as an old writer once said,
2:29:29
continued action is like a stream of water which wears
2:29:32
for itself a channel from which it may not easily
2:29:35
be turned. For control the attention, so far as possible.
2:29:41
Do not allow the attention to dwell upon ideas suggesting
2:29:44
a course of action opposed to that associated with the
2:29:46
new habit. Keep the attention fixed so far as is
2:29:50
possible upon the ideas associated with the new habit. Thus
2:29:54
you will feed the one set of motor ideas and
2:29:57
starve the opposite set. If you are trying to break
2:30:00
yourself of the habit of smoking, you are very foolish
2:30:03
if you allow your mind to dwell upon the pleasures
2:30:06
of the pipe, cigar, or cigarette. Instead, let it hold
2:30:09
the suggestive ideas and mental pictures of the advantages to
2:30:12
be gained by refraining from smoking, and above all, hold
2:30:16
firmly before the mind the idea that you are demonstrating
2:30:19
that you have a will strong enough to enable you
2:30:21
to break an undesirable habit. You will do well, particularly
2:30:26
at first, to follow the example of the companions of Ulysses,
2:30:29
who stopped their ears with wax that they might not
2:30:31
hear the seductive voices of the sirens. The voyagers who
2:30:35
neglected this precaution were lured to their destruction because they
2:30:38
allowed the tempting sounds to enter their ears. This is
2:30:42
not cowardice, but the part of courage, when rightly understood.
2:30:46
He jests at scars who never felt a wound. As
2:30:50
has well been said, it takes more courage to turn
2:30:53
away from some ideas than to face them, and the
2:30:56
coward is sometimes he who remains on the scene one
2:30:59
of them. The most effective methods of inhibiting or neutralizing
2:31:02
the power of a disturbing or threatening desire or impulse
2:31:06
is that of deliberately changing the direction of the attention.
2:31:09
It is an axiom of psychology that while attention follows interest, nevertheless,
2:31:14
attention may be directed by a determined, active will so
2:31:17
as to arouse interest, not previously present. This interest, so awakened,
2:31:22
rises to desire, and desire gives motive power and direction
2:31:25
to will. In this axiom we have the key to
2:31:29
the problem which we are now considering. It is a
2:31:32
well established fact of psychology that, in the processes of
2:31:35
the deliberative will and of the determinative will, that particular
2:31:39
alternative which in some way attracts and holds the attention
2:31:42
will have greater weight and power than would otherwise be
2:31:45
the case. The interesting alternative is given the more favorable position,
2:31:50
while the uninteresting one is pushed to the side, sometimes unjustly.
2:31:55
This process is akin to that which we experience in
2:31:57
ourselves when we give the preference to a political candidate
2:32:00
whom we know and like, rather than to one unfamiliar
2:32:03
to us and who does not arouse our interested attention.
2:32:07
In view of this fact, you may see how important
2:32:09
it is that you should direct and hold your attention
2:32:12
so far as is possible upon the course of action
2:32:15
which your reason and your table of will values inform
2:32:17
you to be the best and more advantageous one, and
2:32:20
to shut out of your attention and interest so far
2:32:23
as is possible the opposing alternative. By doing this you
2:32:27
give to the advantageous idea the added strength of attention
2:32:30
and interest, and you place the objectionable idea in the
2:32:33
far less favorable position. Many a man has prevented himself
2:32:37
from acting foolishly and wrongfully by determinately turning his attention
2:32:41
to the probable consequences of the proposed harmful action. It
2:32:45
has been well called a master stroke of the inhibitory
2:32:48
battle to bring into the field of consciousness an idea
2:32:50
of the benefits of a contrary action, or the mental
2:32:53
picture of the evil effects of the proposed action. The drunkard,
2:32:57
thinking of the sick child at home is strength, and
2:33:00
in his effort to inhibit the urge of appetite. The
2:33:03
more that Macbeth and his wife held in mind and
2:33:05
pictured in imagination the idea of fame and power, the
2:33:09
stronger grew their desire and determination to kill the king.
2:33:13
Their attention developed increased interest and desire, and thus heightened
2:33:17
the power of the original motive. The will is able
2:33:20
to determine which of the motives influencing it shall become
2:33:23
the stronger. It accomplishes this by deciding which of two
2:33:26
alternative sets of ideas shall occupy the field of attention.
2:33:30
During the desire conflict, emotion and desire develop under the
2:33:34
stimulus of attention. The will, being the master of attention,
2:33:38
has the power to encourage or to banish the ideas,
2:33:41
calling forth the emotional feeling and the resulting desires. If
2:33:45
one set of ideas is kept well in the field
2:33:48
of attention, a strong emotional interest and desire may gather
2:33:51
around it. But if the opposite set of ideas is
2:33:54
called into the field of attention and is then held
2:33:56
firmly there, then the first set of ideas will lose
2:33:59
interest and motive power. This principle is illustrated in one
2:34:04
of Moliere's comedies. Yepi, a dissolute character, is sent by
2:34:08
his wife, a washerwoman, to the village shop to buy
2:34:12
a piece of soap, and is entrusted with a small
2:34:14
coin for that purpose. But Yepi wants a drink. He
2:34:19
knows that his wife will beat him if he wastes
2:34:21
the money, but he also knows that he has a
2:34:24
strong craving for the glass of wine. A desired conflict ensues.
2:34:29
Yepi says to himself, my stomach says wine, my back
2:34:33
says soap. He is torn by the internal struggle. Finally,
2:34:38
as he walks along, he sees the tavern ahead of him.
2:34:42
This decides the conflict. The object in the field of
2:34:45
attention proving stronger than that which is outside that field,
2:34:49
he says, is not a man's stomach more to him
2:34:52
than his back. Yes, say ay, And into the tavern
2:34:56
he walks. Had he but looked around the corner and
2:34:59
their seen his wife wearing a look of determination on
2:35:02
her face and carrying a big stick in her hand
2:35:05
as she marched after him, he would have decided in
2:35:07
favor of his back rather than his stomach. The two
2:35:11
sets of desires and impulses were nicely balanced in the
2:35:14
case of Yeppi, but the added element of aroused attention
2:35:17
and interest brought the victory for the wine and the
2:35:20
defeat of the soap. The following rules will be found
2:35:23
useful in connection with the direction of attention in will training,
2:35:27
particularly in the matter of inhibiting and restraining the unwelcome
2:35:30
and disturbing desires and impulses which pull in the direction
2:35:33
opposed to that of the high values and the fixed standard.
2:35:38
One feed the positives, feed the will with suggestive ideas
2:35:42
and mental pictures. Favorably representing the desires and actions which
2:35:46
constitute the top values of your table of will values,
2:35:50
and which are in accord with your fixed standard. Two.
2:35:54
Starve the negatives. Starve the disadvantageous desires and impulses and
2:35:59
their result actions by resolutely refusing to allow your attention
2:36:03
to be directed towards suggestive ideas and mental pictures favorably
2:36:07
representing the desires and actions constituting the low values or
2:36:11
bottom values of your tableable values, and which are in
2:36:14
opposition to your fixed standard. Three the law of opposites.
2:36:20
In cultivating an advantageous desire or impulse and its resulting action,
2:36:25
resolutely refuse to allow your attention and imagination to become
2:36:28
occupied with suggestive ideas and mental pictures favorably representing the
2:36:32
opposite set of desires and impulses and their resulting action.
2:36:37
In restraining, inhibiting, or neutralizing a disadvantageous desire or impulse
2:36:42
and its resulting action, deliberately and determinately direct your attention
2:36:45
and imagination upon the suggestive ideas and mental pictures which
2:36:49
favorably represent the opposing i e. The advantageous set of
2:36:53
desires and impulses and their resulting actions. The reason for
2:36:58
the above rules is as far follows. One, attention and
2:37:01
interest feed desires and impulses and strengthen ideas. Lack of
2:37:06
attention and interest starve them two. By bestowing attention and
2:37:09
interest upon one set of desires, impulses, or ideas, you
2:37:13
tend to inhibit, weaken, and starve the opposite set. Both
2:37:17
of these facts are highly important. You should memorize this
2:37:21
statement concerning them exercises in will training. The observance of
2:37:26
the rules stated in the foregoing portions of this section
2:37:29
will be found to give the will considerable valuable exercise
2:37:32
in will training. In addition to these, however, there are
2:37:36
several general forms of exercises which will prove of great
2:37:39
value to you in the direction of strengthening the fiber
2:37:42
of your will and of developing your powers of steadfastness, resolution,
2:37:46
and determination. By exercising your will against obstacles, opposition, and hindrances,
2:37:52
those existing in the outer world and those which have
2:37:55
their abode in your inner world of habit, desire, and impulse,
2:37:59
you give to your will a resisting power and an
2:38:01
aggressive force which will make themselves felt in the affairs
2:38:04
and conduct of your everyday life. When you are required
2:38:06
to assert your will power and strength of will, your
2:38:10
attention is now called to the following principles and methods
2:38:13
of will training directed to these ends tempering the will
2:38:17
along the lines of resistance. The practical thinkers of the
2:38:21
race for centuries past have known that one of the
2:38:24
best possible exercises for the development of strong will power
2:38:27
and for its efficient training, is that of the deliberate
2:38:30
and determined performance of certain selected unpleasant tasks. This performance
2:38:35
being undertaken and carried out not necessarily by reason of
2:38:38
any actual immediate value to oneself or others of the
2:38:41
performance itself, but rather solely and simply because of the
2:38:45
valuable exercise of them will thus obtained and the equally
2:38:50
valuable training of the will accomplished by these means. Many
2:38:54
of the ancient occult teachers began the instruction of their
2:38:57
pupils in this way, the result being that the persistentence
2:39:00
practice of this method, under the intelligent guidance of the teachers,
2:39:03
developed and trained the pupils into veritable giants of all power.
2:39:08
The world renowned Jesuit order has for hundreds of years
2:39:11
employed similar methods for the purpose of strengthening the wills
2:39:14
of their chosen students and neophytes. As a result, the
2:39:17
Jesuits are renowned for the powers of determination, persistency, and
2:39:21
endurance manifested by their members. Many of the best modern
2:39:25
psychologists have revived this old teaching and its methods, and
2:39:29
references to the principle may be found in many of
2:39:31
the textbooks of the modern masters of this branch of science.
2:39:35
For instance, the following statement of William James, one of
2:39:39
the best practical philosophers and psychologists of modern times. Keep
2:39:43
the faculty alive by a little gratuitous exercise every day,
2:39:47
that is, be systematically ascetic or heroic in little unnecessary points.
2:39:52
Do every day something for no other reason than that
2:39:54
you would rather not do it, so that when the
2:39:56
hour of dire need draws nigh, it may find you
2:39:59
not unnerved and untrained to stand the test. The man
2:40:03
who has daily injured himself to habits of concentrated attention,
2:40:07
energetic volition, and self denial in unnecessary things will stand
2:40:11
like a tower when everything rocks around him, and when
2:40:14
his softer fellow mortals are winnowed like chaff in the blast.
2:40:18
See how closely the above resembles in practice the discipline
2:40:22
of the ancient magi or occultists. Says Evelyn Underhill, The
2:40:26
first lesson of the would be magis is self mastery.
2:40:30
In its essence, magical initiation is a traditional form of
2:40:33
mental discipline, strengthening and focusing the will. There is nothing
2:40:38
supernatural about it, like the more arduous, more disinterested self
2:40:43
training of the mystic. It is character building with an object,
2:40:46
conducted upon a heroic scale, says Eliphus Levi. By means
2:40:51
of persevering and gradual athletics, the powers of the body
2:40:55
may be developed to an amazing extent. It is the
2:40:58
same with the powers of the soul. Would you govern
2:41:01
yourself and others? Learn how to will? How may one
2:41:06
learn to will? This is the first secret of magical initiation.
2:41:10
And it was to make the foundations of this secret
2:41:13
thoroughly understood that the antique keepers of the mysteries surrounded
2:41:16
the approach to the sanctuary with so many terrors and illusions.
2:41:20
They did not believe in a will until it had
2:41:22
given its proofs, and they were right. Strength cannot prove
2:41:27
itself except by conquest. Idleness and negligence are the enemies
2:41:31
of will, and this is the reason why all religions
2:41:34
have multiplied their practices and made their cults difficult and minute.
2:41:39
The more trouble one gives himself for an idea, the
2:41:41
more power one acquires in regard to that idea. Hence,
2:41:46
the power of religions resides entirely in the inflexible will
2:41:49
of those who practiced them. The ancient and modern method
2:41:53
of accustoming the will to face and to accomplish disagreeable tasks,
2:41:57
and to overcome disagreeable conditions by sheer determine nation is
2:42:00
one of the very best systems of schooling and tempering
2:42:03
the will. By accustoming the will to act in this way,
2:42:07
you will school it so that it will act efficiently
2:42:09
when similar conditions arise in actual life. This has well
2:42:13
been called tempering the will along the lines of the
2:42:16
greatest resistance. The will trained in this way is always
2:42:20
ready to meet disagreeable emergencies, no matter how suddenly they
2:42:24
may present themselves, nor how serious they may be. It
2:42:28
has well been said of men trained in this way
2:42:30
that while others will be crying over spilt milk, the
2:42:33
possessors of trained wills of this kind will be hunting
2:42:36
for another cow to milk, or may even have found
2:42:38
such a cow and to have actually begun to milk her.
2:42:42
On the other hand, the person who carefully and habitually
2:42:45
endeavors to escape unpleasant tasks, disagreeable facts, and uncomfortable circumstances
2:42:51
lacks such preparatory training of his will. When he is
2:42:54
actually confronted with disagreeable circumstances or apparently disastrous conditions, his
2:42:59
will will be uneas equal to the task of overcoming them.
2:43:02
The men who have pushed and elbowed their way to
2:43:05
the front ranks of endeavor in any of the walks
2:43:07
of life have developed wills of this kind. Some of
2:43:11
them have obtained the development by strenuous experiences in the
2:43:14
university of hard knocks, while others have anticipated and forestalled
2:43:18
this by scientific preparation. Before the day of the actual examination.
2:43:23
Life is filled with disagreeable tasks and uncomfortable circumstances. To
2:43:28
perform the first and to master the second, requires the
2:43:31
trained will. Wise is he who learns his lesson before
2:43:35
the hour of trial. He is doubly armed for the fray.
2:43:39
Training of this kind has been likened to fire insurance
2:43:41
on a house It costs something in effort and self denial,
2:43:45
but it is something laid by for the hour of need.
2:43:48
It is the great reserve fund of habitual will action
2:43:51
upon which you can draw in the time of necessity.
2:43:54
The importance of such training cannot be overestimated. It is
2:43:58
like starting and maintained, meaning an account in a good
2:44:01
savings bank. You add to it little by little, and
2:44:04
you accumulate rapidly by reason of the compound interest drawn
2:44:07
by your deposits. A well known teacher was wont to
2:44:11
advise his pupils to do something occasionally for no other
2:44:14
reason than that they would rather not do it if
2:44:16
it were no more than giving up a seat in
2:44:18
a street car. Napoleon had a well train along these lines.
2:44:23
His will was so completely under his control that apparently,
2:44:26
without any emotional struggle, he could enter upon courses of disagreeable, difficult,
2:44:30
and unpleasant action, even though they involved the greatest hardships.
2:44:34
You will find numerous opportunities to exercise your will along
2:44:38
this line of training. Every day will furnish you with
2:44:41
such Do something which you particularly dislike to do. Do
2:44:45
it not because there is any special merit in the doing,
2:44:48
but solely and simply because of the training it will
2:44:50
give your will. It is related of a certain man
2:44:53
that he was discovered one day carefully studying John Stuart
2:44:56
Mill's great work on political economy, a subject which he loathed,
2:45:01
and for which he lost no opportunity to express his aversion.
2:45:05
When asked why he was doing this, he replied, I
2:45:08
am training my will. I am doing this because I
2:45:11
dislike it intensely. The great men of history have trained
2:45:15
there will along this line of the greatest resistance, while
2:45:18
the average men have been content to exercise there will
2:45:20
only along the lines of the least resistance. The former
2:45:24
have so trained themselves that when they are required to
2:45:27
perform some disagreeable action, they do so with as much
2:45:30
ease and force as if the action were most agreeable
2:45:32
to them. The latter find it almost impossible to perform
2:45:36
disagreeable actions except by whipping and spurring themselves to the task,
2:45:40
and even then they performed the action only half heartedly
2:45:43
and with but little force or effectiveness. You are positively
2:45:47
advised to master this feature of your will training. The
2:45:50
day will come when you will thank us from the
2:45:52
bottom of your heart for this advice, provided you have
2:45:54
followed it. Tempering the will by self denial, akin to
2:45:59
the priests. Exceeding exercise is that which consists of the
2:46:02
occasional practice of self denial, i e. The deliberate denial
2:46:06
to yourself of your favorite pleasure. This denial is not
2:46:10
to be made because of any direct merit in the
2:46:12
sacrifice or in the act, but merely because of the
2:46:15
exercise of the will which is required for the denial,
2:46:18
and because of the additional strength acquired by its performance.
2:46:22
Many of the penances and other acts of self denial
2:46:25
imposed by the governing authorities of the great religions of
2:46:28
the world tend to develop will power in the individual
2:46:31
practicing them. This fact is acknowledged by the best authorities,
2:46:35
but it is not generally realized by the masses of
2:46:37
people practicing the acts in question. The great religious teachers
2:46:42
know that the person who has trained his will along
2:46:44
the lines of occasional self denial will find it easier
2:46:47
to resist real temptation when it comes to him. Psychology
2:46:51
recognizes a practical value in self denial and penance, aside
2:46:55
from their purely religious elements. The general principles which govern
2:46:59
the ecs exercises designed to temper the will by the
2:47:02
performance of disagreeable and unpleasant tasks, which we have just
2:47:06
considered apply also to the present case of tempering the
2:47:09
will by self denial. The performance of disagreeable tasks and
2:47:13
the act of refraining from agreeable expressions and manifestations are
2:47:17
alike displeasing to the untrained will. Therefore, the same principle
2:47:22
is involved in both, and the will is thereby trained
2:47:25
along the same general lines, though the approach is made
2:47:28
from opposite directions. In the method of training the will
2:47:32
by the practice of self denial, you must deliberately select
2:47:35
some most pleasant action or course of action, something which
2:47:38
you wish very much to perform, and then resolutely refuse
2:47:41
to perform the same within a certain time limit. The
2:47:45
denial may involve the refusal to smoke your customary after
2:47:48
dinner cigar, to drink your favorite cup of coffee, to
2:47:51
read the conclusion of an interesting book or of the
2:47:54
new installment of a serial story, to eat some particularly
2:47:57
desired and favored dish, to attend some play which you
2:48:00
have been very anxious to witness. In fact, the refusal
2:48:04
to do any particular thing which you earnestly long to do.
2:48:08
The time limit must be definitely fixed and must be
2:48:11
strictly observed. There is a positive psychological value to the
2:48:15
definite time limit. You must be absolutely honest in your
2:48:19
selection of the object of your self denial. It must
2:48:22
involve a real test and must require a real effort
2:48:25
of the will to accomplish. You must give up something
2:48:28
of real emotional value to yourself, of course, only for
2:48:32
the time of the exercise, or within the time limits
2:48:34
deliberately set by yourself at the start. The time limit
2:48:38
must be sufficiently extended to afford a real test of
2:48:41
the will. The self denial must hurt. It must be
2:48:45
sufficient to make you smart. You must be a severe
2:48:49
task master to yourself in these trials, tests and exercises.
2:48:54
There must be no trifling or fooling in the matter.
2:48:57
You must set yourself up real man's jib, and you
2:49:00
must be the real man to accomplish it. Note in
2:49:05
each of the two classes of exercises just considered, you
2:49:08
will act wisely not to select tasks of such a
2:49:11
nature or character that their successful performance will bring you
2:49:14
that comfortable feeling of religious or ethical merit, or of
2:49:17
duty well performed, Nor anything which you are in duty
2:49:20
bound to do or not to do in accordance with
2:49:23
your accepted codes of religious, ethical, or moral duty or obligation.
2:49:29
This caution is necessary because otherwise you would have the
2:49:32
positive value of duty or religious or moral obligations to
2:49:37
add weight to your resolute determination and its manifestation. In
2:49:41
these exercises, you should endeavor to select tasks in which
2:49:44
the only motive is the will to will, to pit
2:49:47
the will against the push or pull of feelings, impulses,
2:49:50
and desires, and you should deny to yourself the aid
2:49:53
of the added weight of duty or obligations such as
2:49:56
have been mentioned. The only reason for the performance of
2:50:00
these exercises is that of arousing the will to will,
2:50:03
willing for the sake of willing, or willing merely to
2:50:06
prove that it is will. Reversing habits. A third method,
2:50:11
involving the same general principles, is that either one of
2:50:15
doing something which it is your regular habit and custom
2:50:18
not to do, or two of not doing something which
2:50:21
it is your regular habit and custom to do. In
2:50:25
either of these phases of this exercise, you should select
2:50:28
as the task to be performed some action for which
2:50:30
you have no special like or dislike, apart from the
2:50:32
habit something neither especially agreeable nor yet especially disagreeable, but
2:50:37
which you usually do or not do solely by reason
2:50:40
of an established habit, some little regular habit of dressing,
2:50:44
of proceeding to your business by a certain route, of
2:50:47
lunching at a certain place or in a certain part
2:50:50
of the room, or something of that kind. Such are
2:50:52
the tasks to be selected. This may seem like silly
2:50:56
trifling when you first think of it, but wait until
2:50:58
you actually try it. You have a surprise awaiting you.
2:51:03
Set a time limit here, as in the other cases.
2:51:06
As a few examples, we might suggest the following. After
2:51:10
ascertaining which particular shoe or stocking you put on first
2:51:14
in dressing, deliberately reverse the order for the period of
2:51:17
one week, or follow the same procedure in the matter
2:51:21
of placing your right or your left arm, as the
2:51:23
case may be, first in your coat when you put
2:51:26
it on, Change the order of the arm placing for
2:51:28
the period of one week, or again, change the choice
2:51:32
of your morning or afternoon newspaper for one day. Occasionally,
2:51:37
or pursue a different route from that usually followed by
2:51:40
you in traveling from one place to another daily or
2:51:43
oftener This is effective only when you have already established
2:51:46
the habit of making the daily trip along a certain
2:51:49
regular route. If you will exercise your ingenuity, you will
2:51:53
discover many little tasks of this kind to be performed,
2:51:56
and in so doing you will not only train your
2:51:59
willolong particularly trying lines, but will also learn a valuable
2:52:03
lesson concerning the power of habit in the little courses
2:52:06
of action in everyday life performing uninteresting tasks. Another method,
2:52:12
and one greatly favored in some quarters, is that of
2:52:15
deliberately performing some monotymous, purposeless and uninteresting task just for
2:52:20
the sake of willing to will. For instance, one sitting
2:52:25
on a chair for five minutes with the arms crossed
2:52:28
and the feet pressed together at the sides of the
2:52:30
shoe sols. Two walking to anfro in your room for
2:52:33
five minutes, touching a number of articles in regular order
2:52:37
as you pass them. Three counting and recounting a number
2:52:40
of small articles for five minutes. For changing your chair
2:52:44
at every count of twenty five for five minutes. Five
2:52:48
reading backward and forward a certain paragraph of a book.
2:52:51
This one, for instance, four five minutes. Six replacing in
2:52:56
a box very slowly and deliberately one hundred matches, buttons,
2:53:01
or small pieces of paper. Seven putting on and taking
2:53:04
off a pair of gloves slowly and deliberately for five minutes.
2:53:09
The above examples will give you a general idea of
2:53:12
the character of this class of exercises, but actual practice
2:53:15
of them will be required to show you the amount
2:53:17
of persistent resolution and determination required to perform them properly.
2:53:22
Tempering the will by asserting it Another valuable form of
2:53:26
will training, but one which must be employed judiciously, is
2:53:30
that in which the will is tempered by actual assertion
2:53:32
of its power. By assertion, we do not mean to affirm,
2:53:37
to aver, to state positively, which is one usage of
2:53:40
the term. Instead, we mean that usage which indicates to
2:53:44
maintain or defend by words or measures, to vindicate. In
2:53:49
tempering the will by assertion, you proceed to assert your
2:53:52
will in little things, so as to have your own
2:53:54
way about such things, irrespective of the actual benefit to
2:53:58
be gained, direct and immediate. The sole object is to
2:54:01
habituate the will to having its way, and thereby to
2:54:05
give it confidence in itself, and to build up in
2:54:07
it the habit of success. You will find that you
2:54:10
have been in the habit of giving way to others
2:54:12
in the little things concerning action and the doing of things,
2:54:16
solely because it has been too much trouble to make
2:54:18
an effort of will in the opposite direction. In such cases,
2:54:22
when the other person happens to be possessed of a
2:54:24
more persistent will to do the little things in his
2:54:27
own way, you have found it easier to let him
2:54:29
proceed in that way. This, notwithstanding that you assert your
2:54:32
will readily enough in the greater issues of life. There
2:54:36
is a possible danger in allowing the will to acquire
2:54:39
too readily the habit of deferring to the will of others.
2:54:41
By reason of this repeated and customary lack of assertion
2:54:44
in the little things, a little vigorous exercise along these lines,
2:54:49
once in a while will act like a tonic to
2:54:51
the will, and will keep it in good condition. In
2:54:55
exercise of this kind, he should employ your will to
2:54:57
assert itself, not because of any particular kuller or direct
2:55:00
benefit to be derived by securing the thing or action
2:55:03
insisted upon, but solely as an exercise of the will itself,
2:55:07
and in the direction of establishing the habit of victory
2:55:10
for it. In fact, in such exercises, you should select
2:55:14
something in which nothing of real value is involved, something
2:55:17
of no consequence. The exercise should proceed absolutely along the
2:55:22
lines of the will to will, and not along those
2:55:24
of the pursuit and attainment of something desired for itself.
2:55:29
It should be like a physical exercise pursued solely for
2:55:32
the purpose of developing and strengthening the muscles, and not
2:55:35
for that of performing useful work or attaining some actual
2:55:38
desired object. Here a word of caution is needed. Do
2:55:43
not make the mistake of asserting your will wantonly, or
2:55:46
for the purpose of overriding and humiliating others needlessly. Again,
2:55:50
do not so use it as to create for yourself
2:55:53
the reputation of being stubborn or unreasonable, or for having
2:55:57
your own way regardless of the rights of others. Avoid
2:56:01
all exercises which will attract attention to yourself or to
2:56:04
your motives. In the matter, you will find enough opportunities
2:56:07
to exercise in this way without this drawback. Finally, do
2:56:11
not insist upon having your way in the little things,
2:56:15
when by so doing you jeopardize having your way in
2:56:17
the greater things in view. And equally, do not insist
2:56:21
upon having your way. If your own way is the
2:56:23
wrong way and the other way is the right one,
2:56:27
mix common sense and fair play in this exercise of
2:56:29
the will. The exercise will be all the better by
2:56:32
reason of this. But with the above cautions in mind,
2:56:36
get into the habit of having your own way in
2:56:39
the little unimportant things, at least once in a while,
2:56:42
just to get the habit well established, and to keep
2:56:44
the machinery of will well oiled and running smoothly. Do
2:56:48
not let your will get rusty or gummed up by
2:56:51
reason of disuse and lack of exercise bracing the will
2:56:56
with affirmations. You will find it beneficial to follow the
2:57:00
method of bracing the will with affirmations of its own
2:57:03
powers and possibilities. Affirmations and statements of this kind act
2:57:07
as a veritable wiltonic and invigorator. Along these lines, you
2:57:12
may use with effect the poem by Ella Wheeler Wilcox,
2:57:15
quoted in section one of this book. Also the quotations
2:57:18
given in section six of this book, in which are
2:57:21
expressed the thoughts of some of the great minds of
2:57:23
the race concerning will power and its possibilities. All of
2:57:27
these quotations have been selected with some particular important point
2:57:30
in view. You may also employ in this way the
2:57:34
master formula of attainment viz. I definite ideals, two insistent desire,
2:57:41
three confident expectations, four persistent determination, the balanced compensation, and
2:57:50
likewise the slogan I can, I will, I dare I do.
2:57:56
You might add to the list any favorite quotations of
2:57:59
your own, for invited that they serve to inspire, energize,
2:58:02
and strengthen your purposeful determination, and to awaken the wil consciousness. Finally,
2:58:08
you will do well to add to the list the
2:58:09
quotation from Lummis on the last page of the next
2:58:12
section of this book. The method of procedure here is
2:58:16
as follows. Read over each selected quotation, aphorism, maxim or
2:58:20
other affirmative statement until you have extracted its full spirit
2:58:24
in essence and have caught the thought of its originator.
2:58:28
Then carefully and thoroughly memorize it so that you will
2:58:31
be able to recall it readily and without undue effort.
2:58:34
You must know it by heart as well as you
2:58:36
do the words of your favorite song or verse. Take
2:58:40
plenty of time for the task, but do not drop
2:58:42
it until completed. But do not take up a second
2:58:46
selection until you have thoroughly mastered and completed the first.
2:58:50
After you have these affirmative selections at your command, get
2:58:54
into the habit of recalling them to memory from time
2:58:56
to time. Do this at any time of the day
2:58:59
when you have a few moments to spare, while on
2:59:01
the street cars, while walking along the street, while waiting
2:59:05
in the hotel lobby for someone, while waiting for your
2:59:07
train in the station, et cetera. Meditate upon them. Get
2:59:11
the inspiration and power from them. Also, at night, just
2:59:16
before going to sleep, recall these selections or statements one
2:59:20
at a time and fall asleep thinking about them. If
2:59:23
you should happen to awaken in the middle of the night,
2:59:26
don't worry about loss of sleep or be filled with
2:59:28
the fear of insomnia. Instead, let your mind play with
2:59:32
these affirmative statements and allow your soul to bathe itself
2:59:35
in their spirit. General suggestions concerning will training. In addition
2:59:40
to the special examples of exercises and methods of will
2:59:43
training which have just been recommended to you, you will
2:59:46
find it useful to invent and to construct exercises of
2:59:49
your own design for the same end, or to create
2:59:52
variations or combinations of the exercises and methods to which
2:59:56
we have called your attention. Any in all forms of
2:59:59
will exorcis sizes are beneficial, providing that they set before
3:00:03
the will a clearly defined task which is not beyond
3:00:05
the powers of the aroused will to accomplish. Provided that
3:00:08
the will sets itself earnestly to the task of accomplishing it,
3:00:12
it is absolutely essential that the will should face the
3:00:15
task bravely and to determine resolutely to accomplish it fully.
3:00:19
The exercise must also always call for effort on the
3:00:22
part of the will, if the will is expected to
3:00:25
benefit by it. An occasional, isolated effort benefits the will,
3:00:30
but little repeated and reiterated effort is required. Particularly beneficial
3:00:35
are regularly repeated efforts conducted along the lines of definite
3:00:39
method and calling forth the release of will power in
3:00:42
an almost habitual manner. In such exercises, you will do
3:00:46
well to focus your will power and to concentrate it
3:00:49
upon some one end. Cultivate the habit of concentrated will
3:00:53
action in your exercises, form a strong, definite, purposeful determination,
3:00:58
and then pour into its manifestation the whole power of
3:01:01
your will. For the time being. Let that one purposeful
3:01:04
determination be your dominant motive, and its manifestation your chief
3:01:08
aim in life. The successful performance of these exercises will
3:01:12
create in you the habit of accomplishing your definite object,
3:01:16
the custom of getting the thing done, the fashion of
3:01:18
carrying out your determined plan. Your will in this way
3:01:22
will acquire a new confidence in itself. It will acquire
3:01:26
the habit of succeeding. It will approach more difficult tasks
3:01:30
with a new spirit of confidence and expectation of success.
3:01:34
A bolder and braver spirit will animate it, and it
3:01:37
will proceed to the new and more difficult task with
3:01:39
the spirit of the conqueror. It will have learned how
3:01:42
to grapple with a difficult situation as earnestly as one
3:01:45
does with a physical enemy. It will proceed to the
3:01:49
combat with that tenacity of determination, with that fierceness of resolve,
3:01:53
with that passion for success, which a writer has well
3:01:56
said may almost be called vindictive in its aggressive and
3:01:59
person distant quality. Do not let the apparent triviality of
3:02:03
the tasks cause you to undervalue their importance in your
3:02:06
will training. As has well been said, will power is
3:02:10
built up by a gradual process of practice on the
3:02:13
smallest things, and every act of self conquest in one
3:02:16
sphere of life makes the battle easier in all the
3:02:19
other spheres. Exercises of this kind, inspired by the determination
3:02:24
to gain strength and power of will and its definite
3:02:27
direction and control, if persistently conducted, will inevitably lead to
3:02:31
that which you seek to gain from them. But as
3:02:34
a celebrated teacher has added, will exercises must be methodical
3:02:38
and well regulated as to degree in length, or else
3:02:41
they are perhaps worse than useless. We need scarcely remind
3:02:45
you that there is no exclusive virtue vested in any
3:02:47
one of the particular tasks which we have suggested for
3:02:50
your practice and exercise. You may substitute almost any others
3:02:55
for them, and in fact you will do well to
3:02:58
use your ingenuity and powers of ann in that direction.
3:03:02
The one thing always to be observed in this connection
3:03:05
is that the particular, special and definite principles mentioned by
3:03:08
us must always be involved and included in your exercises. Again,
3:03:13
you may exercise along the lines either one of performing
3:03:17
some positive actions during a certain fixed time, or else
3:03:20
two of avoiding the performance of some particular actions during
3:03:24
such time. The one is a positive form of exercise.
3:03:28
The other is the negative form the new motive. When
3:03:33
you have learned to perform the will training exercises of
3:03:36
the kind outlined in this section of this book, you
3:03:38
will have made an interesting discovery concerning your feelings, impulses, desires,
3:03:43
and will action. Heretofore, you have performed your will action
3:03:47
solely by reason of the push or pull of some
3:03:49
strong feeling or desire, and you have seen that all
3:03:52
will action is caused directly or indirectly by feeling and desire. Now,
3:03:58
in the performance of these exercises, you will have found
3:04:01
that you are acting apparently without the push or pull
3:04:04
of feeling or desire. In fact, in several of the
3:04:07
exercises you will be actually acting against such push or pull.
3:04:12
Then you may well ask, what is the motive of
3:04:14
my action? What is its motive? Cause here at this
3:04:19
point you make the discovery in question. You will find
3:04:23
that you have aroused within yourself the will feeling, the
3:04:26
will desire, the will impulse, those strange emotional states which
3:04:30
are satisfied and contented solely by the exercise of the
3:04:33
will for the mere sake of willing, without regard to
3:04:36
the intrinsic value of the act. You here make the
3:04:39
acquaintance of the will to will, that unique mental state
3:04:43
which seems to arise at the very center of your
3:04:45
mental being. Deeper than any feeling, any emotion, any desire,
3:04:49
any impulse. Here is the will willing to will, moved
3:04:53
only by will, and gratifying only will. This strange mental
3:04:57
state is definable only in its own turn. There is
3:05:00
nothing else with which to compare it, nothing with which
3:05:03
to define it. It must be experienced in order to
3:05:07
be understood. But once experienced, it will never be forgotten
3:05:11
by you. If you are interested in this newly discovered
3:05:14
mental state, which at least we trust you have already
3:05:17
found manifesting in yourself, we strongly advise you to consider
3:05:21
carefully the next following section of this book. In it
3:05:25
you will find your new feeling and consciousness indicated in
3:05:28
further detail. If you have not already made this interesting
3:05:32
and important discovery in yourself, you may now be on
3:05:35
the verge of it. If so, the reading of the
3:05:37
following section entitled Will Consciousness, may perhaps hasten the hour
3:05:41
of your deliverance and make easier your new birth into
3:05:44
dynamic will power. The man or woman who experiences will
3:05:48
consciousness is reborn in will, this time into the world
3:05:52
of the will to will, in which the mastery of
3:05:54
will is the normal condition and the habitual state will
3:05:58
power your dynamic forces. By William Walker Atkinson, nineteen twenty two.
3:06:05
Will consciousness. That there is a state of consciousness which
3:06:09
may be called the will consciousness, a state in which
3:06:12
there will becomes conscious of its own existence, its powers,
3:06:15
its possibilities, is a fact thoroughly attested by the actual
3:06:19
experience of many individuals. Yet to those who have not
3:06:23
as yet entered into this conscious experience, there is no
3:06:26
way of proving the validity of such experience, and indeed
3:06:30
no words adequate to express or define it fitly. The
3:06:34
experience of will consciousness is akin to that experience of
3:06:37
full self consciousness, which comes to many persons at some
3:06:40
time in life, but which remains but a name to others.
3:06:45
Or again, it is akin to that dawn of the
3:06:47
esthetic sense, which often suddenly bursts into consciousness in favored individuals,
3:06:52
enabling them to experience beauty as with a new sense,
3:06:55
and which, when once experienced, can never be entirely forgotten
3:06:59
or lost. But on the other hand, will consciousness is
3:07:03
different from those two somewhat analogous experiences. Those particular experiences
3:07:09
are characterized, respectively, by a sense of individual existence and
3:07:13
real being in the first case, and by a sense
3:07:16
of added perception in the second case. Will consciousness, however,
3:07:21
is characterized by the recognition of self power, realization of
3:07:24
self action, and manifestation of freedom of expression, accompanied by
3:07:28
the thrill of the feeling of self mastery, by the
3:07:31
inner certainty of mastery over outer things, which arises from
3:07:35
the consciousness of the possession of these self powers. In
3:07:38
the full state of will consciousness, the awareness of power, freedom,
3:07:42
and ability to act is accompanied by a peculiar feeling
3:07:46
which is most difficult to describe, but which is quite
3:07:49
apparent to those who have experienced it in even a
3:07:51
faint degree. Some psychologists have called it will feeling for
3:07:55
want of a better name. This will feeling is experienced
3:07:59
in every true will action, but reaches the stage of
3:08:02
emotion only when the will wills to will for the
3:08:05
sake of willing, particularly when in doing so it sets
3:08:08
aside the strenuous push or pull of ordinary feeling and desire.
3:08:12
In such cases, it is as if the will has
3:08:15
ascended to a higher plane of consciousness, leaving behind it
3:08:18
on the lower planes the feelings and desires. This will
3:08:22
feeling will be experienced most keenly by you when you
3:08:25
proceed to manifest your will power in the face of
3:08:27
obstacles and hindrances. It will arouse in you the thrill
3:08:31
of courage and daring, the enthusiasm of bravery. You will
3:08:35
find that as you develop and train your will, you
3:08:38
will open the door to an entirely new phase of
3:08:40
satisfying and contenting emotion, a phase which seems to develop
3:08:44
along the lines of will development and training. It never
3:08:47
palls upon you, nor grows stale. On the contrary, it
3:08:51
grows steadily until finally it becomes one of the dominant
3:08:54
elements or factors of your emotional life. In its highest stages,
3:08:58
this will consciousness will seem to wear thin the barrier
3:09:01
which separates your individual self from what may be called
3:09:04
the will of the all Power, that ultimate power which
3:09:07
is the source and origin of all the power manifested
3:09:09
in the universe. In this stage, you will at times
3:09:13
become dimly aware of the throb of the heart of
3:09:15
the universe will feel its energies pulsing through your mental
3:09:19
and spiritual arteries. At such moments, you will become aware
3:09:23
that the all is one, and each is a part,
3:09:26
and not a part, as it seemed to be, the
3:09:28
heart of life, has a single beat, pulsing through God
3:09:31
and Clod and me. In this dawn of the will consciousness,
3:09:35
there will come to you a sense of joy and
3:09:37
of a peace which indeed posseth all understanding. The will
3:09:42
consciousness cannot be purchased with money, neither can it be
3:09:45
acquired as a gift from others. It must be acquired
3:09:49
by work and exercise, by a steadfast development of your
3:09:52
own inherent powers. You learn to will to will only
3:09:56
by willing, and you acquire will consciousness only by willing
3:09:59
to will. By your own efforts, you must arouse the
3:10:03
sleeping giant within yourself, and by your own efforts you
3:10:06
must awaken him to a conscious realization of his own
3:10:09
existence and power. When you have done this, then some
3:10:13
day it will suddenly dawn upon you that this giant
3:10:15
will is really yourself, your greater self, which has swallowed
3:10:18
up the old partial manifestation of selfwood which you formerly
3:10:22
regarded as yourself. From the very dawn of will consciousness,
3:10:26
you will become aware that you are a master and
3:10:28
no longer a slave. You will experience the sense of
3:10:32
freedom and independence, and will be able to see what
3:10:35
a puppet like creature you formerly were. Having escaped from
3:10:39
the control of the lesser desires and impulses, by having
3:10:42
entered into the spirit of the greater, you will find
3:10:44
that these lesser desires and impulses now will rally around
3:10:47
your standard, will give you allegiance, will swear fealty to you.
3:10:51
From the moment you have conquered them. They will become
3:10:54
your eager and earnest servants. Despise not these lesser elements
3:10:58
of feeling, desire, and impulse. They will prove useful servants
3:11:02
to you, so set them to work for you. It
3:11:05
is found that feeling, impulse, and desire like fire, are
3:11:09
good servants, though poor masters. Remember the old aphorism, all
3:11:14
things are good enough to be used by you, but
3:11:16
no thing is good enough to use you. It is
3:11:19
a platitude that he who gains self mastery attains to
3:11:23
the mastery of others. But only when you have developed
3:11:25
will power and attained will consciousness are you able to
3:11:28
read the full meaning in these old and familiar words.
3:11:32
Only then will you perceive the truth of the teachings
3:11:34
of the ancient occult sages, who held that you may
3:11:37
exert the mastery over other persons and things, even over
3:11:40
wild beasts and natural forces. You must first have gained
3:11:44
the mastery over the rebellious elements of your own nature,
3:11:46
which have usurped the throne which rightfully is your own.
3:11:50
When you have conquered the inner forces, you have acquired
3:11:53
the right to control the outer forces. When you have
3:11:56
deposed the usurpers of your kingdom and have seated yourself
3:12:00
upon the inner throne of your own mental and spiritual being,
3:12:03
then will you be able to issue your edicts to
3:12:05
the outer kingdom over which you have sovereignty. When you
3:12:08
have tamed and mastered the menagerie of wild beasts within yourself,
3:12:12
then will you be able to master and control the
3:12:14
wild beasts in others. So said the ancient teachers. The
3:12:19
best modern thought sustains the doctrine. There is a serious
3:12:23
side to this attainment, however, which you must not fail
3:12:26
to recognize and to heed. In attaining this reward of will,
3:12:30
power and will consciousness. You will find in your hands
3:12:33
a mighty instrument for good or for evil. There will
3:12:37
come to you at times a sense of tremendous responsibility
3:12:39
for the proper use of this newfound power. The greater
3:12:42
the degree of power attained by you, the greater is
3:12:45
the responsibility. Your resolutions will lose their former character of
3:12:50
impermanency and ineffectiveness. They will take on the character of permanent,
3:12:54
effective forces. They will become deeply rooted in and strongly
3:12:58
attached to reality. They will become terribly sincere and real.
3:13:02
At times you may actually experience all when you contemplate them.
3:13:06
At times, there may come to you the temptation to
3:13:09
regard yourself as apart from other men who have not
3:13:12
as yet attained the heights reached by you. These other
3:13:15
men will show that they recognize something different in you,
3:13:19
and will fail to understand you. They may even feel
3:13:22
more or less uncomfortable in your presence, and will be
3:13:25
apt to regard you as cold, unsympathetic, or even as
3:13:28
lacking in some of the qualities of humanity. This because
3:13:31
you have risen above some of the common weaknesses of
3:13:34
humanity in its present stage of development and evolution. You
3:13:38
will find yourself, in a sense living ahead of your time.
3:13:42
There will be manifest in you the prophecy and the
3:13:44
dawning spirit of the superman. Be not unduly affected by
3:13:48
these things. Keep in touch with the world as it is,
3:13:52
retain your sympathy with mankind as it is, and above all,
3:13:56
keep your feet on the ground of practical, every day
3:13:58
life in the present, and be not tempted to soar
3:14:00
up to the region of the clouds, one plane at
3:14:03
a time. Remember, you will discover that when you have
3:14:07
developed and trained your will, when you have acquired will
3:14:09
power and have attained the will consciousness, you will have
3:14:12
become more truly an individual than you were before. You
3:14:16
will have become a master of destiny instead of remaining
3:14:19
a slave of circumstance. You will know what you can do,
3:14:23
and you will do it. You will be able to
3:14:26
do what you will, and to will that which you do.
3:14:29
You will have mastered both impulse and lethargy. You will
3:14:32
have reached the golden mean between the two extremes. You
3:14:35
will possess and use energy, yet will not needlessly and
3:14:39
uselessly waste or dissipate it. You will be able to
3:14:42
begin a task, to continue it as far as is necessary,
3:14:46
and to discontinue it when wisdom dictates that course. You
3:14:50
will be able to proceed just as far as is required,
3:14:53
yet will be able to stop at that point and
3:14:55
not take an unnecessary step. You will also find that
3:14:59
you have no inclin a nation to air and display
3:15:01
your new found power for the edification or mystification of others.
3:15:05
You will possess that certain sense of inherent power which
3:15:07
will cause you to rise above such weaknesses and vain displays.
3:15:12
The truly strong man does not boast of his strength
3:15:14
and power, neither does he vaingloriously strive to exhibit it.
3:15:19
You will be aware that others recognize the power within
3:15:22
you and are influenced by it. Yet that very sense
3:15:25
of the possession of certain power will tend to inhibit
3:15:27
you from boasting about or making a needless display of it.
3:15:31
You will realize that will power does not manifest itself
3:15:34
in gritting the teeth, clenching the fists, nor protruding the
3:15:38
chest like a powder pigeon, or heaving the bosom like
3:15:40
the moving picture heroine registering emotion. Likewise, you will discover
3:15:46
for yourself that which all wise, men of all ages
3:15:49
in all lands have always known i e. That will
3:15:52
power and will consciousness do not necessarily impart gruffness, sternness,
3:15:57
nor harshness to their possessor. True will power frequently screens
3:16:01
itself with an exterior of suavity and agreeableness. Many individuals
3:16:06
of the strongest will power manifest a pleasant manner and
3:16:10
express a suave politeness, to such a degree that the
3:16:13
unthinking observer may be deceived into believing that the individual
3:16:16
has no will of his own, and that his only
3:16:19
desire and object in life is that of being agreeable
3:16:22
and pleasant to others. But when the opportunity and need
3:16:25
present themselves, these individuals manifest fully and unmistakably the latent
3:16:30
strength within themselves. The iron hand in the velvet glove
3:16:34
is the ideal of the diplomat, and men like Talleyrand
3:16:37
possess this quality in a remarkable degree. As history records,
3:16:42
the blusters and braggarts usually are found to possess no
3:16:45
real power. Finally, you will discover that the figurative expression
3:16:50
in which the strong will is called the iron will
3:16:52
is imperfect. You will find that this figure of speech
3:16:56
does not convey the idea of that which the strongly
3:16:59
developed and science aientifically trained will really is in its place,
3:17:03
you will prefer to use the expression the steel will
3:17:06
the will of finely tempered steel. The iron will may
3:17:10
break under the strain of circumstances, whereas the will of
3:17:13
steel will yield a little for the moment, only to
3:17:16
spring back to its original position and form when the
3:17:18
pressure is withdrawn. The steel will bends at times rather
3:17:23
than to allow itself to be broken, but it always
3:17:26
springs back in true form and resumes its action inspired
3:17:29
by purposeful determination. The steel will bends, but it never
3:17:34
loses its shape, form, or strength. Its purpose may be
3:17:38
frustrated temporarily, but it is never permanently defeated. In fact,
3:17:43
the energy of its rebound in springing back often serves
3:17:46
to accomplish the desired end and purpose. Think of your
3:17:50
will as being like the thoroughly tempered, fine strong Damascus blade,
3:17:54
which bends and springs back when necessary, but which is
3:17:57
never broken nor bent out of shape, rather than as
3:18:00
the iron bar, which breaks under pressure or else is
3:18:03
bent out of shape. Summing up the discoveries made by
3:18:07
you when you have developed and train your will power
3:18:09
to that degree in which you have experienced at least
3:18:11
the dawn of will consciousness and the will to will,
3:18:14
you will find that you have acquired the following qualities, attributes,
3:18:18
and powers. One the consciousness of pure will within yourself.
3:18:23
Two the habit of employing that will with directness, efficiency,
3:18:27
and scientific accuracy. Three the knowledge of an inexhaustible mind
3:18:32
of inner resources, power and ability to act with purposeful determination.
3:18:37
Four the power to will to will for the sake
3:18:40
of will consciousness. Five the power of manifesting or inhibiting
3:18:45
will action by will. Better than all you will have
3:18:49
discovered that at the very center and heart of your will,
3:18:51
on the very throne of will, you yourself abide as
3:18:55
the sovereign king. When you have reached the ultimate stage
3:18:59
of will consciousness, lo will itself will seem to have disappeared,
3:19:03
and you alone will remain. Then the will will be
3:19:06
seen to have become the acting part of yourself. Well,
3:19:10
says Emerson, there can be no driving force except through
3:19:14
the conversion of the man into his will, making him
3:19:16
the will and the will him. We know of no
3:19:19
better words to pass on to you as the keynote
3:19:22
of what we have sought to teach you in this
3:19:23
section than the statement of Charles F. Lummis, who summed
3:19:27
up in the following words the result of his own
3:19:29
experience of a life of conflict in which he emerged
3:19:31
a victor over strong odds. The great lesson all this
3:19:35
has taught me is that man was meant to be,
3:19:38
and ought to be stronger and more than anything that
3:19:40
can happen to him. Circumstances, fate, luck are all outside,
3:19:46
and if he cannot change them, he can always beat them.
3:19:49
If it had not worked its way into my broken brain,
3:19:52
that captain I held the fort that the only key
3:19:55
was my own will, and that unless I wilfully surrendered,
3:19:58
nothing could take the citadel. I should have been dead
3:20:01
long ago. I am all right. I am bigger than
3:20:05
anything that can happen to me. All these things are
3:20:08
outside my door, and I've got the key. Will Power
3:20:12
your dynamic forces by William Walker Atkinson, nineteen twenty two.
3:20:19
Will atmosphere the individual in whom the will consciousness has
3:20:23
been unfolded and manifested. He who has learned how to
3:20:26
will to will is usually found to have unconsciously developed
3:20:30
that peculiar aura field of emanation or whatever else it
3:20:33
may be called, which is known to close students of
3:20:36
the subject as the will atmosphere. The will atmosphere is
3:20:40
like the field of induction of the strong magnet, the
3:20:43
forces of which influence the particles of iron or steel
3:20:47
within its limits. The will atmosphere of the will conscious
3:20:50
individual exerts a subtle but most powerful influence over those
3:20:54
with whom he comes in contact. In some strange way.
3:20:58
The other persons coming within them field of induction of
3:21:01
such an individual instinctively recognized the power ladent within his
3:21:05
region of will, and they consciously or unconsciously adapt themselves
3:21:09
to it. We wish here to illustrate this principle of
3:21:12
will atmosphere by citing several celebrated cases in which the
3:21:16
force in question has been manifested in a striking manner.
3:21:20
For some of these illustrations we are indebted to doctor J.
3:21:23
Milner Fothergill, who a number of years ago gathered together
3:21:27
many instances and examples of will power, and included them
3:21:30
in a work upon the subject, which we believe to
3:21:32
be now out of print. First of all, we shall
3:21:36
ask you to consider that striking illustration given by Oliver
3:21:39
Wendell Holmes, which Fathergill prefaces with the following comment, The
3:21:44
steady conflict of the eye is familiar to many of us.
3:21:48
The boy looks at his mother to see if she
3:21:50
is in earnest in her threat. When older, he likewise
3:21:53
looks at his schoolmaster to read his purpose. Two men
3:21:57
or women look at each other steadily. No word is said.
3:22:00
The conflict is soon over, and one walks ahead of
3:22:03
the other. Ever after. The instance related by Holmes is
3:22:07
stated by him as follows. The coinor's face turned so
3:22:11
white with rage that his blue black mustache and beard
3:22:14
looked fearful scene against it. He grinned with wrath, and
3:22:18
caught at a tumbler as if he would have thrown
3:22:20
its contents at the speaker. The young Marylander fixed his clear,
3:22:24
steady eye upon him, and laid his hand on his
3:22:27
arm carelessly, almost, but the jewel felt it was held
3:22:30
so that he could not move it. It was no use.
3:22:34
The youth was his master and muscle. And in that
3:22:37
deadly Indian hug, in which men wrestle with their eyes
3:22:40
over in five seconds, but breaks one of their two backs,
3:22:43
and is good for threescore years and ten one trial
3:22:47
enough it settles the whole matter, just as when two
3:22:50
feathered songsters of the Barnyard Game and Dunghill come together.
3:22:55
After a jump or two at each other and a
3:22:57
few sharp kicks, there is an end of it, and
3:23:00
it is a pre vous monsieur with the beaten party
3:23:03
in all the social relations for all the rest of
3:23:06
his days. Father Gill relates with relish the celebrated instance
3:23:10
of the meeting of Hugo, Bishop of Lincoln and Richard
3:23:13
cur de Lion in the Church of Roche d'An deli.
3:23:17
In this case, Richard, being involved in war with Normandy,
3:23:21
demanded more supplies of his barons. The Bishop of Lincoln
3:23:25
refused to supply any man, holding that the See of
3:23:28
Lincoln was bound to military service only when the war
3:23:31
was waged within the four seas of Britain. Richard, a
3:23:35
man of very strong will, was incensed by the refusal
3:23:38
of the Bishop and summoned the latter to Normandy. When
3:23:42
the Bishop reached Normandy, he found that the king was
3:23:44
furiously enraged with him. Mutual friends advised him to send
3:23:48
a conciliatory message to the King before venturing to enter
3:23:51
his presence, but the Bishop declined the advice and preferred
3:23:56
to trust to his own sense of awakened will consciousness.
3:24:00
The King was sitting at Mass when the prelate walked
3:24:02
up to him and, despite the monarch's frown, said kiss me,
3:24:06
my lord King. The King turned away his face. Hugo
3:24:11
shook him and repeated his request. Thou hast not deserved it,
3:24:16
growled the King fiercely. I have returned, the undaunted prelate,
3:24:21
shaking the King by the shoulder even still harder. The
3:24:25
King yielded. The kiss was given, and the Bishop passed
3:24:28
calmly on to take part in the service. Fathergill ads
3:24:32
mere indifference to death could never have produced such a result.
3:24:36
There was something more. As well as being utterly fearless,
3:24:40
Bishop Hugo possessed a will power of most unusual character,
3:24:44
of which several instances are on record. Not only did
3:24:48
he face the king and justify his refusal to supply
3:24:51
men in the council chamber. Afterwards, he went further and
3:24:55
rebuked the king for infidelity to his queen. The lion
3:24:59
was tamed for the moment. The King acknowledged nothing but
3:25:01
restrained his passion, observing afterwards, if all bishops were like
3:25:05
my Lord of Lincoln. Not a prince among us could
3:25:08
lift his head against them. Such is the story as
3:25:11
told by Freud. Yet Richard was the last man to
3:25:15
permit a liberty to be taken with him, as his
3:25:17
whole history showed. This, however, was not the only instance
3:25:22
in the career of Hugo in which he showed that
3:25:24
his power was capable of dominating that of his king.
3:25:28
An earlier king, Henry Plantagenet, who indeed had made Hugo
3:25:32
the Bishop of Lincoln in the first place, went down
3:25:35
in defeat before the bishop's will power as truly as
3:25:38
did his successor. King Henry preferred a request for a
3:25:42
favor to be bestowed by the Bishop upon a certain courtier.
3:25:45
His request was bluntly refused. Hugo had already braved the
3:25:50
wrath of the king, and the monarch was very angry
3:25:53
at him. Henry was with his Swede in Woodstock Park
3:25:56
and sat down on the ground, pretending to be mending
3:25:59
his leather glove when the bishop approached him. The king
3:26:03
took no notice of his spiritual peer. After a brief pause, Hugo,
3:26:07
pushing aside an earl, sat down by the King's side.
3:26:11
Watching the royal proceedings, he remarked, your majesty reminds me
3:26:16
of your cousins at Falaise. Falaise was a place famous
3:26:19
for its leather works, and it was there that Duke
3:26:22
Robert met Arlada the Tanner's daughter, the mother of William
3:26:25
the Conqueror, King Henry's ancestor. The reference to his humble
3:26:30
ancestry was too much for the king, who was badly
3:26:33
worsted in the discussion which followed. Father Gill says, a
3:26:37
similar character is presented to us in general Gordon, it
3:26:41
was not his absolute indifference about his life which gained
3:26:44
him his ascendancy in China, where life is held to
3:26:47
be of little or no moment. The absence of any
3:26:50
fear of death would go but little way, and it
3:26:53
did not constitute the basis of Chinese Gordon's ascendancy. His
3:26:56
secret lay elsewhere, nor did his supremacy in the Sudan
3:27:00
rest upon his bravery. For the Arabs of the Sudan
3:27:03
are as brave as any warriors in the world, as
3:27:06
the history of their conflicts testify. When Gordon took a
3:27:10
chair and sat himself down by King John of Abyssinia,
3:27:13
or presented himself alone to the Arab sheikhs, who had
3:27:16
sworn to take his life. It was not his disdain
3:27:19
of death alone which carried him through both perils unharmed,
3:27:22
or enabled him to hold Khartoum. Equally. Implicit confidence in
3:27:26
the protection of Heaven has not saved others when in peril.
3:27:30
All The faith of Savonarola only led him to a
3:27:33
horrible death amidst torturing flames. But without this indifference to
3:27:38
their fate, neither Bishop Hugo nor General Gordon could have
3:27:41
come and scathed out of the terrible dangers they deliberately
3:27:43
chose to meet. Any fear of death certainly would emasculate
3:27:47
any man under these circumstances. The will power must be
3:27:51
accompanied by personal courage when danger to life has to
3:27:55
be encountered. The heroism of the Jesuits who labored among
3:27:59
the Red Indians early in the history of Canada was
3:28:02
sustained by their devotion, for many suffered terrible cruelties, But
3:28:06
no one of them ever possessed in a higher degree
3:28:09
than will power which compels the obedience of others, than
3:28:11
did LaSalle, the pioneer of the Mississippi. In George Washington,
3:28:16
we see a splendid illustration of that power which molds
3:28:19
other men and compels them to follow its behests. His
3:28:23
patient sagacity rested on the basis of his will power.
3:28:27
A curious instance of the magnetic power of will was
3:28:30
furnished by the story of the relations of the late
3:28:33
Benjamin Disraeli to the Conservative Party of England, an alien
3:28:37
handicapped by his early avocations. At first the House refused
3:28:41
to listen to him, Yet irresistibly he rose step by
3:28:45
step to be a Conservative leader who educated his party,
3:28:48
and at last was Prime Minister, with a solid array
3:28:51
of the best bred Norman descended patricians of England at
3:28:54
his back, yielding ready obedience to his wishes, a leader
3:28:57
of men, men too deeply imbued with traditions, and also
3:29:02
a personal friend of his sovereign. Here what is meant
3:29:05
by the words by faith, ye shall move mountains was
3:29:08
illustrated vividly. The House of Orange has furnished some striking
3:29:13
examples of the effect of will power. William the Silent
3:29:17
held his followers together by an iron will that bent
3:29:19
under no catastrophe, no disaster. It refused to submit. A
3:29:25
like character was that of William Afterward, King of England.
3:29:29
Men who disliked him did his bidding. He inspired the
3:29:33
dispirited allies with his own resoluteness. When his schemes were
3:29:37
foiled by a defeat, he immediately set to work to
3:29:40
repair his losses and deprive the French of the fruit
3:29:43
of their victory. That the House of Orange possessed many
3:29:47
grand characteristics will be readily admitted, but no one of
3:29:50
their endowments is more remarkable than there will power. The
3:29:54
peculiar commanding power of leaders, no matter whether regular like
3:29:57
John Churchill or that of a guerrilla che chief like
3:30:00
Mina in the Peninsula War of Spain, of the Red
3:30:03
Indian Pontiac who imperiled the existence of the Anglo Saxons
3:30:07
on the American continent, or even the Negro commander tous
3:30:10
Saint Louverture, seems not to depend upon ability only, but
3:30:14
on character, in which the will power is a leading factor.
3:30:18
Men with markedable power come to the front in emergencies,
3:30:21
as seen in Oliver Cromwell the fan Grasier and Napoleon
3:30:25
Bonaparte the Artillery Subaltern. In both these instances, national convulsions
3:30:31
produced the seething cauldron. From whence they rose each to
3:30:34
an eminence of position and fame. They were heavily handicapped
3:30:38
by their early position, yet they rose superior to it.
3:30:42
But amidst all these men, there rises up a woman
3:30:44
even more remarkable than they, the village maiden Joan of Arc,
3:30:48
who inspired courage into the beaten warriors of France and
3:30:51
led them to victory. In what lay her witchcraft, for
3:30:55
which she was finally burnt, in her capacity to animate others,
3:31:00
which was really based on her will power. The case
3:31:03
of Disraeli mentioned above by Father Gill is a typical
3:31:07
instance of the possession of that something combined will power
3:31:10
and will atmosphere, which distinguishes individuals in whom the will
3:31:14
consciousness has been awakened and developed. When he first arose
3:31:18
to speak in the House of Commons, he was jeered
3:31:21
and derided. The house would have none of him. Upon
3:31:24
this occasion, he hurled at his opponents that remarkable prophesy.
3:31:28
I have begun several times many things, and I have
3:31:31
often succeeded at last. I And though I may sit
3:31:35
down now, the time will come when you will hear
3:31:37
me and that time did come, and before long too.
3:31:42
Father Gill says of this, The time came sure enough
3:31:46
when the house not only listened to him, but even
3:31:48
acknowledged his mastery over it. Disraeli had learned what many
3:31:53
another man learns, that because he failed at first, it
3:31:56
does not follow that ultimate success is unattainable. The the
3:32:00
baffled speaker eventually came to hold the house spellbound with
3:32:03
his barbed shafts of rhetoric. He soon attacked fiercely Sir
3:32:07
Robert Peel, who was an excellent speaker, and the pungency
3:32:11
of his remarks taught the house to dread him, the
3:32:13
one at whom they once had scoffed. It must have
3:32:16
needed great resolution to face the House of Commons again
3:32:19
after that first terrible rebuff, But after the attempt had
3:32:22
once been made, the rest was comparatively easy. Disraeli's subsequent
3:32:27
career furnishes one of the most striking examples of the
3:32:30
power of the individual to overcome apparently insurmountable obstacles by
3:32:34
sheer force of wle power. Step by step, he advanced
3:32:38
in face of opposition sufficient to have dismayed any ordinary man.
3:32:42
At last, he Disraeli, the Jew became Prime Minister of
3:32:46
England and the actual ruler of the destinies of a
3:32:49
great part of the world. This man has thrilled the
3:32:52
souls of several later generations of courageous and ambitious men,
3:32:56
not only by the force of his example, but also
3:32:59
by those remarks words of his which we have already
3:33:01
quoted in this book, but which we wish here to
3:33:04
impress still more, forcibly upon your memory. I have brought myself,
3:33:07
by long meditation, to the conviction that a human being
3:33:10
with a settled purpose must accomplish it, and that nothing
3:33:13
can resist a will which will stake even existence itself
3:33:16
upon its fulfillment. Not only the history of warfare and
3:33:21
that of statesmanship are filled with recitals of instances in
3:33:25
which will, power, will, consciousness, will atmosphere have won the day.
3:33:29
The history of business, likewise, is rich in instances and
3:33:33
examples of this kind. A study of the life histories
3:33:36
of the great captains of industry, of the men who
3:33:39
have arrived in the various fields of business life, will
3:33:42
convince any unprejudiced reader that there exists something which exerts
3:33:46
its forces and energies in favor of the individual possessing it.
3:33:51
A still closer analysis will reveal the fact that that
3:33:54
something as will power at the very heart and center
3:33:56
of itself, is possessed of the will consciousness, and men
3:34:00
manifests the will atmosphere. Fathergill gives us many typical instances
3:34:04
of this kind, which he noted in his study of
3:34:07
the history of English manufacturers. We shall give you, in
3:34:10
brief form, a statement of several of the most typical
3:34:13
of these cases cited by him. A study of these
3:34:16
and similar cases serves to awaken the perhaps dormant will
3:34:19
power in the reader, and also illustrates the general principle
3:34:22
now under consideration by us. Josiah Wedgewood was the youngest
3:34:27
of fourteen children, bred and born a potter. At that
3:34:31
time the pottery business of England was limited to a
3:34:34
very common earthenware. The fine pottery now produced is largely
3:34:37
the result of the pioneer work performed by this one
3:34:40
time little delicate lad. He was apprenticed to the trade,
3:34:44
but was handicapped by illness which made him lame in
3:34:47
his right knee, and which finally resulted in the amputation
3:34:50
of his right leg. Crippled as he was he worked away.
3:34:55
Gladstone afterwards said of him that his physical disability sent
3:34:59
his mind inward and drove him to meditate upon the
3:35:02
laws and secrets of his art. By adding silica to
3:35:06
the day, he succeeded in making a white ware instead
3:35:09
of the dirty colored products hitherto made. Then he began
3:35:12
to experiment along the lines of perfecting his glazes. Then
3:35:17
he had to erect his furnaces. Then came the art taste.
3:35:22
He paid large sums for old examples of art were
3:35:24
and copied these accurately. Then he rediscovered the lost art
3:35:29
of painting on biscuit ware, practiced by the old Etruscans,
3:35:32
and then employed Flaxman as his artist. He worked for
3:35:36
the throne and became the royal potter. He not only
3:35:40
advanced himself, but also made of his part of England
3:35:43
a great high grade pottery producing center. Wedgewood Furnishes a
3:35:46
typical example of the man handicapped by nature, facing great obstacles,
3:35:51
meeting with many discouragements, but in the end triumphing by
3:35:54
means of the consistent application of his will power in him.
3:35:58
The will consciousness had been awakened. He had the atmosphere
3:36:02
highly developed according to the testimony of those of his
3:36:05
own times. The story of Lister and silk waist also
3:36:09
furnishes an illustration of the general principle under consideration. Lister's
3:36:14
attention was directed to what was known as silk waist
3:36:18
i e. The waste made from the manufacture of neat
3:36:20
silk and pierced cocoons, and which looked like mutilated ropes,
3:36:24
dirty flocks, or mucilaginous hemp, and was knotted and sticky
3:36:28
and choked with sticks and leaves and dead silkworms. For
3:36:32
many years he struggled with the problem of converting this
3:36:35
unpromising waist stuff into available silk material. He battled with
3:36:39
circumstances and repeatedly faced utter financial ruin in the attempt.
3:36:45
At one time he was out of pocket no less
3:36:47
a sum than one million, five hundred thousand dollars, the
3:36:50
fortune previously made by him in other ventures. His indomitable will,
3:36:55
his unflagging energy, his persistent endeavors alone carried him through
3:37:00
and converted defeat into victory. In the end, he succeeded
3:37:04
in manufacturing silk velvets. Velvets with a silk pile and
3:37:07
cotton back silk carpets, imitation sealskin plush, velvet ribbons, corded ribbons,
3:37:13
sowing silks, Japanese silks, poplins, et cetera. From the once
3:37:18
despised silk waste. When in after years a statue to
3:37:23
Lister was unveiled at Bradford, England, an eminent speaker said,
3:37:27
what is it? Especially we are honoring. It is the
3:37:30
pluck which this man has shown. It is the feeling
3:37:33
that he said to himself, here is something which ought
3:37:35
to be done. I will not rest until I have
3:37:37
found out how it can be done. And having found
3:37:40
out how it can be done, where is the man
3:37:42
who will stop me doing it? A writer, in relating
3:37:45
the story of Josiah Mason, the English manufacturer who started
3:37:49
in business at the age of eight years peddling cakes
3:37:52
on the street, and who, when he died, was one
3:37:54
of Great Britain's great commercial giants, says of the subject
3:37:57
of his sketch, Mason had to begin with a strong, powerful,
3:38:01
almost irresistible will. That which he wanted he would have,
3:38:06
and in a great measure he did have. Little or
3:38:09
great All objects or purposes came within the range of
3:38:13
his powerful will, And whatever or whoever he opposed, he
3:38:17
surely conquered in the end, not that he was blindly
3:38:20
obstinate or unwilling to take counsel. Another great quality which
3:38:25
he possessed, very helpful to the accomplishment of his will,
3:38:29
was absolute patience. He knew how to wait. With patience,
3:38:34
there went in close union a wonderful perseverance. Mason was
3:38:38
remarkably tenacious. He held firm to his purpose and worked
3:38:43
it out with never ceasing vigilance and energy. He was
3:38:47
the embodiment of living will power. Illustrations and examples of
3:38:51
this kind might be multiplied indefinitely. The story is the same,
3:38:56
no matter of whom it is told, or what may
3:38:58
be the native land of that person. It becomes certain
3:39:02
to the student of the subject that some great, general,
3:39:05
universal principle is back of and under these manifold instances
3:39:10
there is always evident the presence and power of that
3:39:12
something which is manifesting as will, power, will, consciousness, will atmosphere.
3:39:18
The matter is raised out of the category of mere
3:39:20
coincidence by the overwhelming number of the cases in which
3:39:23
the principle is found operating. It is seen to be
3:39:27
the result of an invariable process of cause and effect
3:39:30
of the law of causation operating on the plane of mentality.
3:39:34
We believe that the principles and methods which we have
3:39:37
set forth in the pages of the present book will
3:39:39
serve to point out to the earnest, persistent, courageous individual
3:39:43
the road which must be traveled by him in his
3:39:45
journey toward attainment by will power. We believe that, in
3:39:49
the statement of the master formula is to be found
3:39:51
the secret of success. Let us repeat it to you
3:39:55
once more in its popular form. Here it is you
3:39:58
may have anything you want, provided that you one know
3:40:02
exactly what you want, two want it hard enough, three
3:40:06
confidently expect to obtain it for persistently determined to attain it,
3:40:11
and five are willing to pay the price of its attainment.
3:40:15
Re Read the several instances of success through will power
3:40:18
related in the foregoing pages of this section, and consider
3:40:21
them in the light of the master formula of attainment
3:40:24
above stated. You will see that in each and every case,
3:40:28
the successful individual has first known exactly what he wanted
3:40:32
to do or to get that he has then wanted
3:40:34
it hard enough that he has firmly believed in and
3:40:37
confidently expected to get or to do it, that he
3:40:39
has persistently determined to get or to do it, And finally,
3:40:43
that he has always been willing to pay the price
3:40:46
of the will atmosphere attainment or achievement. In each case
3:40:50
there has been that marked manifestation of one ideals, two desire,
3:40:56
three faith, four will, and five service. Let us close
3:41:02
by quoting the following truths from the writing of doctor Fothergill,
3:41:05
that esteemed pioneer in the work of recording the principles
3:41:08
and practice of will power, and whose work has served
3:41:11
as at least a part of the foundation structure of
3:41:13
all who have followed him. He says, will power is
3:41:18
seen in the man who bides his time, who knows
3:41:20
how to wait, which involves the when and the why.
3:41:24
Circumstances may stand in his way, and he must wait.
3:41:28
But the will is neither bent, broken, nor warped by
3:41:31
that fact, and is all along as assertive as ever,
3:41:34
even when apparently in abeyance. Yet will power is not
3:41:38
mere perseverance. It is something more. It is an entity
3:41:42
in itself,